Standards commissioner won’t investigate Ian Borg direct order to adviser’s daughter

Standards Commissioner George Hyzler will not investigate a complaint concerning Adreana Zammit, daughter of Transport Minister Ian Borg’s senior adviser.

Hyzler cannot investigate the case because the issue was time-barred, as the complaint concerned something that happened over a year prior to its submission.

He is thus precluded from investigating the complainted under Article 14(2) of the Standards Act.

Serving as a junior lawyer, Zammit was awarded a €62,400 contract by the Transport Ministry through a direct order in October 2019, three months before receiving her warrant.

This came to light in April 2021, after the Times of Malta reported on the case. After the news broke, Zammit resigned from her position.

A copy of the decision was sent to Arnold Cassola, who submitted the complaint, and Minister Borg as the subject of the complaint.

Since no investigation will take place, the Commissioner refrained from publishing the decision himself.

In reaction to the decision, Cassola described it as a “veritable example of how parliamentarians create loopholes in order not to ensure the enforcement of justice”.

This is because MPs had introduced the one-year prescription on corruption allegations involving ministers and parliamentarians.