Silvio Schembri has been caught. Not once, but twice. He’s using constituency offices in Siġġiewi and Luqa which don’t belong to him. They belong to two construction magnates.

The office in Luqa belongs to the secretary general of the Malta Developers Association, Paul Attard. The one in Siġġiewi belongs to Anton Camilleri, who also sits on the MDA executive council.

Schembri was asked repeatedly whether he was paying any rent and, if so, how much. Schembri refused to answer. His two supposed benefactors, Camilleri and Attard, haven’t answered questions either.

Schembri’s ministerial responsibilities include the Lands Authority.

Lands have just put a 4,000-square-metre tract of public land up for sale.

The fishy call gives right of first refusal to Attard who happens to have been providing Schembri with his Luqa office. Mellieħa residents are up in arms, livid that their green space will be transformed into apartment blocks. But Schembri isn’t interested in the petition signed by hundreds of residents.

Schembri’s Lands Authority also decided to sell a public alleyway which happens to bisect Camilleri’s Villa Rosa project.

The tender for that alley specified that it needed to be kept free and unobstructed only up to a height of 5.5 metres, which co-incidentally fitted precisely with Camilleri’s planned project. That call closed two days before the general election. There was only one bid – from Garnet Investments Ltd, which belongs to Camilleri’s family.

Nationalist MP Rebekah Borg picked up The Shift’s revelations about Schembri’s dodgy links with the construction magnates.

She politely asked Schembri a simple question in parliament. Are you renting your Luqa constituency office and, if so, for how much?

Schembri fumed. He lashed out viciously.

He attempted to ridicule and humiliate the MP. Smirking hysterically, he rebuked her for daring to put the question: “I understand that my colleague is new and doesn’t know much about the standing orders but I suggest you refer to Standing Order 26 regarding admissibility of questions to learn what you can and cannot ask as an MP”.

To moronic banging from his fellow Labour MPs, he added: “You are still new and need to get used to how this chamber works”.

Borg wasn’t intimidated.

She launched another salvo at Schembri. Politely but firmly, she asked: “Could the minister tell us whether his ministry employees run his constituency office in Luqa?”

Schembri responded with more sarcastic mockery: “It seems my colleague needed some consultants, she had deputies close to her, surrounding her. I repeat, in this parliament, there are standing orders – I suggest you see them. I have nothing else to add.”

Of course, it’s not Schembri’s role to decide what questions are admissible. That’s the role of the speaker.

But Anġlu Farrugia let Schembri harass Borg. He let Schembri mock and humiliate her.

As other MPs voiced their disgust at Schembri’s arrogance, the minister was undeterred. “Just remain seated and keep listening,” he shouted rudely.

“They are somewhat excited,” he mocked.

“I understand that it bothers the PN that we are close to the people – and,  yes, we’ll remain close to the people and keep opening our district offices… I thank all the ministry officials who are doing a grand job of keeping the people on our side,” he concluded, admitting that taxpayer-funded ministry officials are doing his constituency work.

Silvio Schembri was asked repeatedly whether he’s paying any rent and, if so, how much. Schembri refused to answer- Kevin Cassar

No amount of mockery can hide one stinking fact – Schembri hasn’t answered the questions. That only means one thing. It’s safe to assume that he’s accepted benefits and services from two construction magnates while an entity falling under his responsibility took extraordinary measures to benefit both of them financially.

Schembri is in a flagrant breach of the code of ethics. Article 4.8 states that “ministers shall not accept any gifts or benefits that may or may reasonably create an impression that they are compromising their judgement or place them under an inappropriate obligation”.

He’s breaching Article 4.7 too: “Ministers shall ensure that there is no conflict of interest between their public duties and personal interests.”

When he sends his ministry officials to open his Luqa district office he’s breaching Article 4.9: “Ministers shall keep their roles as ministers and as representatives separate, as well as their role as a member of a political party.”

He broke Article 8.4: “No minister shall accept gifts, donations, hospitality or services from anyone that may place him under an obligation towards such person or persons”.

Schembri has broken the ministerial code of ethics before. He was chastised by the standards commissioner for abusing his position to issue partisan statements through the department of information.

The commissioner accepted Schembri’s letter promising to “make every effort to avoid such statements when these are issued through the DOI” as an effective remedy for his ethics breaches.

Schembri was condemned for failing to respect the separation between the role of minister and party member. The standards commissioner warned Schembri that “I will, however, take a more serious view of similar future cases”.

Schembri hasn’t learnt his lesson. On January 25, 2021, he was held responsible for the breach of articles 4.9, 4.10 and 7.4 of the ministerial code of ethics. Now he’s breached Article 4.9 again. He’s also broken articles 4.7, 4.8 and 8.4. But George Hyzler isn’t there to take “a more serious view”. Now we’ve got a former Labour candidate as standards commissioner.

Schembri’s actions are beyond the remit of the standards commissioner. Schembri should face criminal investigation. The Shift revealed enough evidence to merit police searches of his phone, computers, home and offices, including the Lands Authority. If this were a normal country, Camilleri’s and Attard’s properties and electronic devices would have been raided too.

But this is Malta, where if you’re a Labour minister you can take a historical artefact and place it in your garden. You can give away public land for using two district offices. The police won’t bother you. Neither will the prime minister.

Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.