Presidential overreaction: corruption survey ruffles George Vella’s feathers

A Europe-wide survey on corruption has ruffled President George Vella’s feathers after findings show that 2% of respondents believe his office is corrupt.

The result falls well within the margin of error but in an overreaction, the Office of the President invited respondents to report evidence of corruption to the police.

The survey carried out by Transparency International was carried out in 27 EU member states and asked similar questions to capture the perception of people on corruption.

The result cited by the Office of the President was part of a question asking people whether they believed the President and official in his office were corrupt.

An overarching majority of 88% said none or some of the officials in the President’s office were corrupt while only 2% said almost all or all officials were corrupt and 10% did not know.

The ‘worrying’ result falls well within the survey’s margin of error, which is 4.4%. The sample size for Malta was 500 respondents.

In its statement on Tuesday, the Office of the President said: “Among the results it was reported that 2% of those who took part in the survey believe that ‘all officials or almost all’ in the Office of the President are corrupt. The Office of the President invites these individuals… if they have proof of corruption, refer the matter to the police.”