Standards committee meeting abandoned after Labour MPs refuse to attend

A parliamentary committee by the Standards in Public Life committee on Friday had to be abandoned after the absence of Labour MPs resulted in a failure to reach a quorum.

During the parliamentary committee meeting on Friday, it was ruled that the quorum, meaning the minimum number of members needed to conduct business, had not been reached, as only two members from the Opposition were present. 

A minimum of three parliamentary members need to be present at the parliamentary committee in order to conduct business. 

Nationalist MP Therese Comodini Cachia, one of the two members present, said that this behaviour fosters abuse and disrespect against the Speaker, while effectively giving government the right to stop the work of the committee. 

The other Nationalist MP present, Beppe Fenech Adami, argued out that Article 26 of the Standards in Public Life Act suggested that the Speaker counts as a member of the committee, meaning that the quorum might in fact have been reached.

However, the House Speaker Anġlu Farrugia disagreed with this reasoning.

Earlier on Friday, Repubblika said that it will be expecting immediate action to be taken by the Prime Minister with respect to a breach of ethics by Ministers and Parliamentary Members. 

The NGO penned a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday expressing disgust after minister Edward Zammit Lewis and MP Glenn Beddingfield sent letters to the Parliamentary Speaker saying that they won't be attended a meeting on Friday to discuss a confidential report by the Standards Commissioner on an ethics breach by minister Carmelo Abela.

"This is a perilous game and an insult to the Maltese people by those who are supposed to represent them," Repubblika stated.

It added that Friday's meeting was supposed to take place three weeks ago, but Zammit Lewis and Beddingfield walked out at the first attempt to discuss the matter.

"A banal excuse is now being brought up so as to cancel this meeting. In the meantime, we have a report that may indicate that Minister Abela has violated the Code of Ethics."

A Newsbook article published on Thursday morning said that a report compiled by the Standards Commissioner George Hyzler found that Carmelo Abela broke ethical standards when paying for an advert using public funds.

The report was compiled following a complaint by Repubblika itself last October, after a full-page advert published in newspapers was paid for using public funds.

"We also expect that, as those who put forward the complaint, we are notified of what was found in this regard."

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