Malta has been labelled as “not in sufficient compliance” with recommendations made by anti-corruption experts to improve the fight against criminality and improve standards in public life.

The government has yet to authorise publication of the compliance report detailing the latest findings. The report was adopted by the Council of Europe’s assembly in December.

A spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister told Times of Malta to send questions about the matter to the Justice Ministry.

Questions sent to the ministry remained unanswered.

GRECO had given the government 18 months to bring itself in line

GRECO (Group of States Against Corruption) – the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body – had urged the Maltese authorities to introduce new laws such as wiretaps and similar special investigative measures to help in the prosecution of corruption cases.

In May 2022, it had given the government 18 months to bring itself in line with the recommendations. Those recommendations had stemmed from a report drawn up by the anti-corruption experts in 2019.

While the security services can carry out wiretaps, such evidence is viewed as intelligence that cannot then be presented in court, meaning the police often have difficulty in building a solid corruption case.

GRECO recommended that all evidence obtained by such means should become admissible in court and that this be made clear to all authorities involved in corruption probes.

Other GRECO recommendations that have yet to see the light of day include the regulation of lobbying and clearer rules on so-called positions-of-trust appointments in government.

Similar recommendations – also ignored by the government – were made by the public inquiry into journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

The inquiry, which held the state responsible for the murder, had among a raft of other recommendations called for the introduction of unexplained wealth orders, laws criminalising obstruction of justice by public officials as well as specific abuse-of-office laws applying to government officials.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has been accused of ignoring the recommendations, made in July 2021.

Abela’s government has instead chosen to weaken the hand of investigators by placing limits on freezing and attachment orders, in a move that has been criticised by the Opposition.