Anġlu Farrugia went beyond his powers as Speaker in a ruling over the investigation into why journalists were kept from leaving Castille during the 2019 political crisis, Standards Commissioner George Hyzler has said.

In a five-page letter addressed to the Speaker, Hyzler told him that his ruling was based on an “incorrect premise”

Earlier this week, Farrugia said that the commissioner should not have continued his investigations into the incident.

He did so after government members on the standards committee voted against publishing the report and accused Hyzler of going beyond his functions as the case was the subject of a police investigation and court proceedings. 

In his letter to the Speaker, Hyzler told him that his ruling could undermine the aim of raising ethical standards.

“I would have greatly appreciated an opportunity to discuss the request with you before you issued your ruling,” he wrote.

“Had you given me such an opportunity, I would have expressed my profound concern that the request was an invitation to you to act in a manner that exceeds your legal powers, and this on the basis of an incorrect premise.”

He said that the law gives the Speaker power over the proceedings of Parliament and Standing Orders but does not give him power to interpret the law, which is a matter for the courts. 

Hyzler said the Speaker had the right to give a casting vote but not to issue any rulings that are binding on the Standards Commissioner. 

“For these reasons, it is my firm view that you have been led into issuing a ruling that you do not have the power to issue, hence it is ultra vires. That is particularly ironic considering that the ruling was issued in response to a request claiming that I myself was acting ultra vires.”

Refuting the Speaker’s ruling that Hyzler should not have investigated the detention of journalists because of a pending court case, he said that his investigation concerned the conduct of ex-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and not the individuals who allegedly held the journalists at Castille. 

“You appear to argue that if two separate matters share some facts in common, they should be treated as a single matter,” he wrote, arguing that linking his investigation to criminal proceedings was confusing the issue. 

Hyzler also reiterated his call for his report, which found Joseph Muscat had behaved in an unacceptable manner, to be published.

PN presents motion calling for revision of ruling

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party has presented a motion calling for the Speaker’s ruling to be revised saying it brought to nothing the functions, powers and duties of the Commissioner and the House Committee on Standards in Public Life, rendering them toothless with those found in breach of ethics.

In said the Speaker did not have the power to interpret the law on Standards in Public Life or decide on the validity of the Commissioner’s report through a ruling.

The ruling, it said, confirmed that impunity reigned in Parliament damaging democracy and the rule of law.

Repubblika demands resignation of Speaker

In a statement, civil society group Repubblika demanded Farrugia's “immediate resignation”.

It said it was clear that the Speaker had exceeded his powers according to law and was prominent in the attempt to undermine an institution set up by law to ensure ethical standards in public life.

To hide and exclude unethical behaviour was in itself unethical, Repubblika said.

Hyzler’s warning, it said, was categorical and left no doubt making Farrugia’s position untenable.