Standards chief drops Alex Borg medicines probe, flags flaw in MPs' code

Updated 6.56pm with Health Minister's reaction

The Standards Commissioner has dropped an investigation into Alex Borg’s comments about generic medicines because the code of ethics governing MPs does not impose the obligation of honesty, a shortcoming he warned could lead MPs to escape sanction even when making untrue statements.

In a report seen by Times of Malta, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi said the absence of an honesty requirement in the MPs' code meant there were “no grounds” to proceed with an investigation, despite concerns raised by health authorities about the potential impact of misinformation on public confidence in generic medicines.

In October, the Health Minister had asked the Standards Commissioner to open an investigation into the Opposition leader's comments, accusing him of "stating very serious misinformation with the potential of far-flung and deleterious consequences to the health of patients and the public in general".

Borg had gone on record promising that a Nationalist government would ensure there are no medicine shortages and that medicines are of “good quality, not generics”.

The comment had sparked a backlash from the Malta Medicines Authority and the Superintendence of Public Health, who jointly defended the quality of generic medicines used in state hospitals.

However, the Standards Commissioner said the complaint could not proceed because the MPs’ code of ethics, unlike the ministers’ code, does not explicitly require honesty.

He pointed out that, if the Code of Ethics had been updated in the past five years, then the "outcome of this complaint could have been different". 

"The obligation of honesty is found only in the ministers’ code of ethics. For some inexplicable reason, this obligation was not included in the code of ethics for Members of Parliament," Azzopardi wrote in the report. 

"This means that if a Member of Parliament makes an untrue statement, they can be sanctioned for a breach of ethics only if it is found that they have breached Article 1 of the code of ethics for MPs."

He added that while he understood the concerns of health authorities that "careless statements about generic medicines may reduce public acceptance of such medicines",  if he were to look into "every untrue statement made by an MP as a breach of Article 1 of the MPs’ code of ethics, this would effectively amount to introducing an obligation of honesty for MPs, despite the fact that such an obligation is not expressly included in the code."

Azzopardi said he understood "the reaction of those who see members of parliament avoid sanctions for their behaviour because of glaring shortcomings in the ethical framework that applies to them. But the solution is for those shortcomings to be addressed not for the framework to be set aside and for cases of breaches of code of ethics to be decided on a purely subjective basis."

This is the second time the Standards Commissioner has closed down a request for an investigation because of this shortcoming in the Code of Ethics after throwing out a complaint filed by Wasteserv against PN MP Claudette Buttigieg over claims about a proposed incinerator. 

PN - 'Commissioner found nothing wrong'

In a statement on Saturday, the PN said the ruling confirmed there was “no breach, no investigation, no wrongdoing”.

“The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life found absolutely nothing to substantiate these claims and concluded that there was not even a basis for the complaint to be investigated,”the PN said.

“In fact, in line with established procedure, since no investigation was opened, the Commissioner’s report was not published at all.”

The Opposition slammed the Labour Party media of peddling “fake news” as they “curiously appear to have obtained a copy [of the report], to the extent that they reported selectively from it.”

“It is another fake news from Labour to claim that the Commissioner in any way stated that the Leader of the Partit Nazzjonalista lied. This is made unequivocal in the Commissioner’s final considerations, which contradict the allegation made by Labour media who distorted the words of the Commissioner for Standards,” the PN said.

The party reiterated its “commitment” to work for a healthcare system “in which people have access to the medicines they need, rather than being forced to pay out of pocket because medicines are out-of-stock.”

“A system in which medicine prices go down, not up, as a result of excessive registration tariffs imposed indiscriminately,” they added, in reference to a recently published legal notice which the PN claims will lead to a hike in medicine registrations, a claim that was rebuffed by the Health Ministry.

Health Minister - 'Beyond cheap'

Reacting to the PN's statement, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela slammed the Opposition as "cheap" for "twisting the legal loophole into some form of victory for its leader". 

"Whilst acknowledging the fact that the Standards Commissioner is powerless to sanction non-ministers, for the Opposition to try and twist this legal loophole into some form of victory for its leader, is beyond cheap," Abela said.

"The PN's reaction glorifies disinformation and those who get away with it. This is a very worrying development indeed," he added.