Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi will not investigate Minister Ian Borg’s connection with a driving licence racket because those events are ‘time-barred’.
It also raises concerns that an investigation may prejudice ongoing court proceedings into the matter.
The news comes after independent candidate Arnold Cassola published the Standards Commissioner’s decision not to investigate the issue after Cassola wrote requesting an investigation.
Last year Times of Malta revealed WhatsApp chats that show how then transport minister Ian Borg and his aides regularly pressured Transport Malta official Clint Mansueto to “help” candidates with different stages of the licensing process.
Mansueto and two other Transport Malta clerks, Philip Edrick Zammit and Raul Antonio Pace, have been accused of participating in the racket and face corruption and trading in influence charges, which they have denied.
In his decision, the Standards Commissioner pointed out that the rules regulating his office hold that no Commissioner should investigate any allegation that is pending judicial procedures and should suspend any investigation should the matter under inspection become the subject of a court case or a magisterial or police inquiry.
He said that it could be debated whether this clause applies, as the complaint has not been made about the people who are currently facing legal action over the racket. However, an investigation by the Commissioner would require the same evidence that is currently in the court’s hands as well as question the people who stand accused and draw conclusions about facts that have not yet been established by the courts.
“One should note that the accusations made against the three Transport Malta officials are wide and it would be prudent for this office to avoid prejudicating court procedures, even if this article does not apply.”
Azzopardi also pointed out another clause that precluded an investigation from happening if the events in question happened more than a year before the complaint was made to the Standards Commissioner.
In a statement, Cassola said that while the Standards Commissioner is doing his duty by following the letter of the law, the law itself is too limiting in its scope.
“The way the Standards Commissioner Law has been engineered in parliament with the unanimous agreement and vote of PL and PN MPs shows that the MPs were more interested in covering up for themselves, through the introduction of a one-year prescription period, rather than ensuring that justice is done,” he said.
“This is a veritable and concrete example of how justice is not seen to be done.”