Standards czar throws out Whip request for investigation on Azzopardi collusion claims

A complaint filed by Labour Whip Glenn Bedingfield against shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi has been thrown out by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in Public Life. 

Bedingfield wanted an investigation into whether Azzopardi had used sensitive information obtained from inside the Attorney General’s office, to alleged collusion between a judge and a lawyer in a speech in Parliament, using his privilege to make the allegation. 

READ ALSO: Graft sentence reduction: Azzopardi demands investigation into ‘judicial scandal’ 

But commissioner George Hyzler threw out the complaint by Bedingfield, a former Labour Party TV journalist. 

Hyzler acknowledged that Bedingfield’s suggestion that an official from the AG’s office may have disclosed sensitive information on a former employee, Charles Mercieca, and his role as a prosecutor in a court case, was an imputation of a criminal offence. 

Hyzler said he could only refer such a case to the police where an investigation into ethical misconduct yields evidence of such a criminal offence. 

But he said it was not applicable when the complaint consists of an allegation of criminal offence, saying he should not be an intermediary for the complainant and the police. 

Hyzler also said it was the Speaker’s responsibility to censure any improper conduct by an MP when it occurs in his presence. “It is my policy that, as a rule, I should not consider complaints that would involve the scrutiny of the exercise of such discretion. If I were to act otherwise, I would in effect be overruling or second-guessing the decision of Mr Speaker...” 

The incident revolves around a parliamentary speech by Azzopardi in which he alluded to a possible case of collusion by a former lawyer in the Attorney General's office, who has since taken up private practice. 

Azzopardi claimed that as a state prosecutor with the Attorney General, Charles Mercieca had decided not to insist on a four-year prison sentence for a convicted Fisheries Department employee, whose sentence was reduced to a three-year probation on appeal. 

He also alleged that Mercieca had been a frequent guest of Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who presided over the appeal of Francis Caruana. 

Mercieca ended up at the centre of controversy after joining Yorgen Fenech’s defence team less than 24 hours after resigning his post as lawyer with the Attorney General’s office. Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has ordered an inquiry into the incident, which is distinct from the instance flagged by Azzopardi. 

Bedingfield said it was incorrect for an MP to use parliamentary privilege to take umbrage against a sitting member of the judiciary, attacking their integrity, without even making proper reference to the judgment. “What is even serious is the fact that Dr Jason Azzopardi stated that the lawyer representing the office of the attorney general namely Dr Charles Mercica, was not authorised to state in open court that he was not insisting on a prison sentence since he did not obtain such permission from his superiors,” Bedingfield said.   

He highlighted that if this information was true, it was, in fact, sensitive information, and should not be released by any member of office in keeping with the criminal code of Malta.