Abela wants MPs obliged to tell the truth, like ministers
All MPs, including minsters, have to file a simpler assets declaration, says PM
Prime Minister Robert Abela believes MPs’ code of ethics should be amended after the commissioner for standards in public life ruled that members of parliament are not bound by a duty to tell the truth.
“I believe it [the MP’s code of ethics] should be amended so that every member of parliament has the same obligations as a member of cabinet,” the prime minister said. Abela was speaking after Nationalist Party MP Claudette Buttigieg was found to have not breached parliamentary ethics.
The complaint was filed by Wasteserv after Buttigieg claimed that a study on a proposed incinerator found it would negatively impact towns within a six-kilometre radius.
Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi concluded that the study had found that the impacts on these towns would be negligible. A Times of Malta fact-check published earlier this year had reached a similar conclusion.
Ultimately, the standards commissioner said Buttigieg had “intentionally or otherwise, presented a false picture of the study”. Nevertheless, he said this did not constitute a breach of ethics because “the obligation of honesty is only found in the code of ethics for ministers”.
Abela said the Nationalist (PN) MP was able to evade the standards rules and that she had lied. “Do you really need a law to tell you not to lie? It should come from within yourself to be honest… This lack of saying the truth is symptomatic of many in the PN,” he said.
Currently, ministers and other members of cabinet are bound by a different code of ethics than the general one that applies to MPs. While the ministerial code obliges cabinet members to tell the truth, the MPs’ code does not. Ministers also have to provide more details on their finances via a declaration to the cabinet secretary, including bank accounts, property holdings and shares.
House Speaker Anġlu Farrugia ruled in January that cabinet members do not need to table their detailed statements in parliament. However, all MPs, including ministers, also have to file a simpler assets declaration to the Speaker. Ten months ago, Abela said he wanted to reform the system so that all MPs, no matter their role in government, would have to file a more detailed declaration to the Speaker.
There have been no legislative updates since.