Minister did not misguide parliament on AUM report, Speaker rules

Speaker Anglu Farrugia ruled Education Minister Clifton Grima did not misguide the House when replying to a parliamentary question on the publication of an auditing report related to the American University of Malta.

Nationalist MPs Rebekah Borg and Justin Schembri had requested the Speaker’s intervention after they alleged the minister had misguided parliament when tabling information related to the audit. The Standards Czar had refused to investigate the case, saying it does not fall under his remit.

It said the report should have been carried out, and had to investigate the decision on a five-year extension of the American University of Malta’s (AUM) which was handed down in August 2022.

The PN has alleged the minister misguided the House by making reference to an ‘institutional audit’ carried out in October 2020.

“This report was already the basis on which a decision had been taken, in 2021, that the licence is extended by just one year because, according to this audit, the AUM had failed,” the PN said.

Handing down the ruling on Thursday, Farrugia said the Standards Commissioner was right in passing on the complaint to the Speaker, as it is only the Speaker who investigates allegations surrounding MPs misguiding the House in replies to parliamentary questions.

He also said that despite the MPs not requesting an investigation into the breach of parliamentary privilege, he would be ordering the minister to table the public report, which was available online from 14 October 2022.