On May 3, the European Commission published a proposal for a directive on combatting corruption. The initiative promises to address the disappointment expressed by many Maltese that EU membership did not extend to secure the standards of integrity we see in political life on the continent.
As the story of Joseph Muscat’s suspicious €500,000 from Vitals unfolds, it is clear to all that EU accession did not contribute at all to cleaner politics in Malta.
The new EU directive just announced has the potential to change that. But while the initiative is a step in the right direction, the effectiveness of the proposed provisions must be improved if we want a concrete impact on the ground in Malta.
Given the craftiness of corrupt operators on these islands, devising webs of accomplices and accounts across the globe, a new EU law must include mechanisms designed to overcome what has so far eluded us notwithstanding the good number of laws designed precisely to tackle corruption locally.
The commission’s target of “building a culture of integrity” would be welcomed in Belgium for example, where the secret services snooped Eva Kaili and her associates, catching them red-handed with bags of cash. In Malta, on the other hand, the Pilatus Bank chairperson flew away, unquestioned, with the smoking gun while the notion of public ‘integrity’ lies at a level where the government bulldozes a law through parliament so that it can choose the referee who is to decide on ‘standards’.
The commission says it wants to engage in “carrying out information and awareness-raising campaigns” against corruption. How will we go about that with our own PBS? The local courts already condemned PBS for bias against the PN. Did the reporting change after that? Will they cover every detail with the Muscat and Konrad Mizzi meltdown like the independent media? We all doubt that.
The proposed EU directive, in fact, builds on a presumption, which in Malta is indeed rebuttable, that the provisions decided at a European level will find the cooperation of a police force ready to apply the law. That is not the case here. In Malta, we needed Bernard Grech and Adrian Delia to tell the police commissioner to act against the 37 people mentioned in the Vitals/Steward court judgment that exposed how the public sector is literally in bed with corrupt politicians and businesses.
The proposed directive aims to set up “specialised anti-corruption bodies” that enjoy “adequate resources and training” to act against “obstruction of justice and illicit enrichment”. Fine words. But with Malta’s police commissioner, nolle prosequis have become the order of the day. They’re issued with liberal abandon as are the ‘mistakes’ in the prosecution of corruption cases. Police officers dealing with corruption resign in succession while corrupt politicians enjoy unadulterated impunity while flaunting their unexplained wealth.
Indeed, in Malta we seriously need a legal instrument for unexplained wealth. As yet in Malta we do not have a law allowing the police to delve deeper into prima facie illicit gains. Muscat’s €485,000 from ‘consultancies’, for instance, merit closer investigation. That is one area where the commission proposal may have the potential to stir the waters as Brussels is expected to push for a number of provisions to be harmonised in all EU jurisdictions.
EU accession did not contribute at all to cleaner politics in Malta- Peter Agius
Maybe Prime Minister Robert Abela will find it harder to give the impression of taking action with Ursula Von der Leyen than he did after the publication of the inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. That inquiry in fact suggested that a new legal instrument for unexplained wealth be introduced in Maltese law. In 2021, the PN proposed such a legal instrument among 12 initiatives it lodged in parliament, only to be shot down by Abela.
Those 12 bills are fundamental if we want a fair society where corruption is shunned by all rather than promoted, even flaunted, as is the case right now. The proposed directive has the potential to reactivate momentum for changes to our criminal code. We need more than changes to the law, however. We need to ensure that the authorities are effectively forced to act upon legal provisions. This is precisely where the proposed directive is weak: in Malta we already have the legal instruments but the police seem to refuse to use them.
A main weakness of the proposed directive is precisely the fact that it is a directive and, hence, it leaves it in the hands of the Maltese government to transpose and implement in Malta. We need this law to be a regulation instead. An EU regulation would be directly enforceable without government intervention. Moreover, an EU regulation would, contrary to a directive, give every citizen the direct right of recourse to the courts to hold the Maltese government to account on corruption.
The proposed EU corruption law has just been submitted and more than a year of negotiations in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament in expected. In all probability, it will be again on the agenda of the new European Parliament elected in a year’s time. The MEPs you choose in June 2024 will be the ones to propose amendments to this law and ensure that Europe empowers us to act against corruption in Malta and across the Union.
If you choose to support me as an MEP candidate, I will do my utmost to see that this law has stronger teeth to bite the likes of Muscat and Mizzi and make a difference in Maltese politics. Like you, I want a fairer society where politicians decide only with the common good in mind.
I want civil society and citizens to be empowered to seek action and answers by the police and the political class. I want journalists to be unfettered in their investigative journalism not blocked in a room in Castille.
Corruption attacks the very heart of our society. I will fight it at every turn, not just with strong words but with concrete action, with renewed energy and the intelligence needed to turn ideals into fruitful actions.
Peter Agius was head of the European Parliament’s Office in Valletta and a member of European Parliament president Antonio Tajani’s cabinet. He is contesting next year’s MEP elections with the Nationalist Party.