Speaker Anglu Farrugia has published legal advice rebutting claims that he exceeded his powers in a ruling over the investigation linked to the temporary detention of journalists at Castille during the 2019 political crisis. 

Standards Commissioner George Hyzler accused the Speaker of basing his ruling on an “incorrect premise” when he decided that Hyzler should have halted the investigation as the matter was subject to a police probe.

In a statement on Friday, the Speaker published legal advice stating that his ruling was based on a proper and correct understanding of the law. 

The advice by Refalo Advocates took a swipe at the Standards Commissioner for publicly questioning the validity of the Speaker’s ruling, saying such a stance only demeans the impartiality of both the office holder and the Speaker, making them parties to partisan politics. 

Hyzler’s investigation found that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat breached the minister’s code of ethics when he defended members of his staff accused of detaining journalists inside the building for some time after a late-night 2019 cabinet meeting.

The Standards Commissioner ruled that having party loyalists acting as security personnel to stop journalists from leaving the Office of the Prime Minister raised doubts over the government's integrity.

The report was never published as the Speaker decided in a ruling that Hyzler had exceeded his powers by continuing with his investigation in parallel with a police probe. 

In a statement on Friday, the Nationalist Party said it had called for an urgent meeting of parliament’s standards committee to continue discussing the report.

The government has so far refused to give the green light for Hyzler’s report to be published.