The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life said he does not have sufficient evidence to prove former minister Chris Cardona breached ethics over an alleged request to help Paceville mogul Luke Chetcuti. 

Dr Hyzler was asked to investigate the case by Arnold Cassola after footage broadcast on French TV in September showed Mr Chetcuti, who runs the Hugo’s chain of bars, restaurants and hotels, boasting about a conversation with Dr Cardona about taking over part of the beach.

Mr Chetcuti also claimed in the video that during a meal with Dr Cardona, the former Economy Minister messaged then Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi on the matter, telling him “they [Hugo’s] always help us and we have to get them part of the beach”.

In a report published Wednesday, Commissioner George Hyzler said that while the replies from both former ministers on the exchange of text messages about a takeover of part of St George’s Bay public beach were not convincing, he did not have enough evidence to prove they had breached the code of ethics.

The standards commissioner also deemed Mr Chetcuti’s claims that his comments were just “bluff” as not convincing. 

“Nonetheless, in the absence of evidence that there was an exchange of the messages in question, I don’t feel that I have a solid enough foundation to come to the conclusion that there was any breach in the code of ethics by Dr Cardona,” Dr Hyzler said. 

He noted that Dr Mizzi’s alleged reply was ambiguous and seemed to suggest he was turning down the request, even if indirectly. Therefore, Dr Hyzler said he did not think Dr Mizzi’s involvement could be regarded as a potential breach of the code of ethics. He, therefore, focused most of his investigation on Dr Cardona. 

Dr Hyzler also explained his request to mobile service providers for SMS information was turned down. He was told by Go and Melita that, as per the laws on the matter, they did not keep a record of such messages and so could not provide the information requested.  

When the story hit the headlines in September, Dr Cardona had denied contacting Dr Mizzi but was more upfront about his meetings with Mr Chetcuti, telling Times of Malta the Paceville mogul “has a number of issues” and that as Economy Minister he would meet up with businessmen “all the time”. 

Word of warning

While he would not be taking the issue further, saying that he also did not have enough evidence to take the matter to the police, Dr Hyzler took the opportunity to give a word of warning to other ministers. 

“I hope that the incident serves as a lesson to ministers in general so that when they meet with people who are interested in asking for help on permits, concessions or any other benefits, they should meet formally, in the presence of their officials,” he said. 

Such an issue further highlighted the need for rules on lobbying, which the commissioner said he planned on putting forward for discussion in the coming days. 

“That a minister meets a person involved in business alone and in an informal setting, with too much familiarity, inevitably leads to suspicions,” he concluded.