Updated 17:30 pm with PL response to PN reaction

Parliament’s standards commissioner, has declined to investigate minister Aaron Farrugia for a breach of ethics when he failed to appear in parliament to answer questions about two Transport Malta officers assaulting a motorist.

Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi said that the Transport Minister should have done a better job at scheduling his meetings to ensure he could attend the session, but that this did not amount to an ethical breach.

His conclusion was condemned by rule of law NGO Repubblika, which filed the investigation request. Repubblika said the commissioner’s own findings showed that Farrugia had breached the ministerial code of ethics and accused him of trying to protect the minister from censure.

Farrugia skipped parliament on November 15, despite being scheduled to answer MPs’ questions that day. Hours before parliament began, Times of Malta published a video showing two Transport Malta officers beating a motorist in a street.

Transport Malta falls under Farrugia’s political purview.

Opposition MPs complained that they had seen Farrugia in the parliament building shortly before the plenary debate began, and Opposition whip Robert Cutajar asked the speaker to rule on the matter.

One day later, Speaker Anglu Farrugia censured Farrugia, saying he had failed in his duty. But he noted that the Speaker does not have the power to compel ministers to appear in parliament.

Farrugia wrote to Farrugia and justified his absence by claiming he had another meeting scheduled in Valletta at that time. He was only in parliament for a brief period before he had to rush to that meeting, the minister claimed.

Rule of Law NGO Repubblika asked the Commissioner for Public Standards to investigate the minister, saying it appeared the minister had breached cabinet’s code of ethics.

In his findings, the Commissioner noted that the ministerial code of ethics only permits ministers and parliamentary secretaries to skip parliament if they are abroad or unwell.

That requirement is more stringent than parliament’s standing orders, which also allow MPs to skip parliament if they are occupied with official government work.

Commissioner Azzopardi leaned on that standing order in his decision.

“Given standing order 158, I cannot reasonably conclude that there is a breach of ethics if a minister absents himself from parliament due to government work, provided they inform the party whip. It is then up to the whip to inform the speaker,” the Commissioner concluded.

He said Farrugia was not clear in his message to his party whip and had scheduled a meeting that clashed with his parliamentary duties.

“But the minister’s indecision does not amount to a breach of ethics, given that he communicated with his party whip as required by standing order 158,” the commissioner said.  

Repubblika was unimpressed by the decision, noting that the standards commissioner had himself acknowledged that the ministerial code of ethics was breached in this instance.

Poor planning did not excuse a breach, the NGO said as it accused the standards commissioner of “burying” the case.

“It looks like Prime Minister Robert Abela is succeeding in neutralizing the Standards Commissioner and turning the Office into a tool to protect his impunity and that of his colleagues,” the NGO said.

Azzopardi’s appointment was a hotly contested one, with the Opposition voting against it. He was only installed in the post after the government changed the law to allow it to appoint a Commissioner with a simple majority following two failed attempts to secure a two-thirds vote.

It is the second decision from his Office made public since Azzopardi was appointed some weeks back.

Earlier this week, independent electoral candidate Arnold Cassola revealed how Azzopardi had declined to investigate minister Clayton Bartolo for ignoring a parliamentary request to publish contracts of a dual CEO under his supervision.

Bartolo had published the contracts some weeks later, the Commissioner noted.

PN reaction

Reacting to the decision not to investigate Minister Farrugia, PN said that like Pilate, the Parliament’s standards commissioner was washing his hands of all the cases put forward to him.

The Nationalist party added that this was the second time in less than two weeks that the commissioner shirked his duty to uphold public standards.

The Commisioner’s behaviour confirms that Prime Minister Abela has chosen Azzopardi as part of plans to hijack yet another institution and in doing so protect himself and his friends, perpetuating a state of impunity, initiated by Abela’s predecessor Joseph Muscat.

The Nationalist Party expects the Standards Commissioner to accept responsibility for his role and to stop washing his hands of his responsibility by investigating the cases put forward to him, ensuring consequences for those that break the ethical code or the law.

PL response to PN reaction

Responding to the PN’s reactions to the Standards Commissioner’s decision the Labour Party stated that the Nationalist Party is consistent only in its arrogance.

The Nationalist Party attacks or protests if the institution does not deliver the result it expects, while if satisfied with the decision of the institution it uses the outcome to attack others, the Labour Party said.

PN has done this with court decisions, as well as decisions by the broadcasting authority, the speaker and now also the Standards Commissioner.

Institutions must be able to take righteous decisions serenely and not buckle to PN pressure, Labour said, adding that PN has been resorting to making frivolous reports against people in government.

“If institutions take decisions based upon who gives them the most stick they would be doing an injustice. Injustice should not be tolerated,”  PL said.