Former Education Minister Justyne Caruana has resorted to further legal action as Parliament’s Standards Committee appears set to debate the breach of ethics report in her regard, in spite of its validity currently being challenged in court. 

With the constitutional proceedings still to kick off, Caruana’s lawyers have upped the tempo by setting up a two-pronged action against the Speaker of the House as chairman and representative of the Standards Committee.

The former minister’s legal team have now filed a judicial protest before the civil courts calling upon the committee represented by the Speaker to ensure that Caruana’s rights to a fair hearing and due process are respected and that any upcoming debates do not prejudice her constitutional challenge in court.

Since the committee appears to be moving ahead with discussing the Standards Commissioner’s report, that committee has a “direct and real” interest in the constitutional action filed by Caruana, argued her lawyers in a separate application calling for the Speaker to be joined in the suit. 

This would not only be appropriate but would also lend the committee a voice in these proceedings, enabling it to give effect to any future remedies afforded by the court, should Caruana’s claims be fully or even partly upheld. 

These latest legal moves follow up the constitutional action which Caruana had filed three days before Christmas, merely hours after resigning as Education Minister.

That lawsuit, still awaiting a first hearing, is seeking to challenge the validity of the law granting the Standards Commissioner “unfettered discretion” throughout the ethics probe which effectively breached Caruana’s right to a fair hearing, the former minister’s lawyers claimed.

Their arguments run along four lines.

•    The law does not clearly distinguish between the commissioner’s investigative and decision-making roles, endowing him with wide discretionary powers;

•    His actions are not subject to judicial review;

•    There is no safeguard to ensure that the investigated person is granted access to all evidence; and

•    The law does not protect the right to silence of any person investigated or summoned to testify before the commissioner.

In this case, the investigation into Caruana’s alleged breach of ministerial ethics resulted in a report published on December 10 about a consultancy contract granted to former Malta footballer Daniel Bogdanovic, who was unqualified for the job but got the position purely on the basis of his friendship with the former minister.

That report promptly triggered legal action by Caruana who claimed that the Standards in Public Life Act violated her fundamental rights in terms of the Constitution and also the European Convention.

Yet, although Caruana’s lawsuit attracted widespread media coverage, the Standards Committee nonetheless appears set on adopting the procedure laid down by that same law which is being challenged in court. 

Media reports have said that meetings before the committee are scheduled to take place this month, specifically to discuss and deliberate upon the report concerning the former minister who, having no legal standing before the committee, has not been formally notified of such meetings.

This means that proceedings before the committee do not seem to have been suspended pending the court action, with discussions possibly resulting in decisions whose validity could likewise be challenged.

Consequently, Caruana’s lawyers have now resorted to further legal action, calling upon the Speaker as chairman and representative of that committee, to ensure that the applicant’s rights are safeguarded and that the court case is not prejudiced in any way. 

In their separate application to the judge assigned the case before First Hall, Civil Court, Caruana’s lawyers are also requesting court to greenlight the Speaker’s joinder in the suit, calling upon the court to provide all just and adequate measures in this regard.

Although it was not originally deemed “essential” to include him together with the State Advocate and Standards Commissioner as respondent in the court case, since it appears that the committee he chairs is to proceed with discussing Caruana’s case, it is now appropriate for the Speaker to be roped in.

Citing a number of judgments where this legal procedure was successfully applied, sometimes even by the court on its own steam, Caruana’s lawyers are arguing that there is nothing to exclude its application in these constitutional proceedings.

If anything, it would allow the committee the opportunity to have its own say in the issue. 

Lawyers Michael Sciriha, Franco Galea and Joseph Camilleri signed both judicial acts.