No intention to mislead parliament on MGA direct orders, Speaker rules

There was no intention to mislead parliament after several direct orders were found missing in a parliamentary question on the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the Speaker ruled on Monday.

The ruling was given after PN MP Ryan Callus filed a complaint with the Speaker when news portal The Shift News identified missing information in a parliamentary question asked by Callus on direct orders by the MGA.

When the portal compared the document provided to parliament with information previously obtained by The Shift News, several direct orders were found missing from the list.

Callus complained that Economy Minister Silvio Schembri was attempting to mislead parliament by providing incomplete information on direct order by MGA.

While the Speaker acknowledged that misleading parliament is a serious offence, he said that the information requested in the parliamentary question was different to that requested by The Shift News.

It is on this basis that the Speaker ruled that there was no intention to mislead parliament by withholding information.

The parliamentary question asked for a list of all direct orders issued by the MGA since March 2013 onwards. However, it seems that the information tabled in parliament refers solely to direct orders which have been approved by the Ministry of Finance's direct orders office. 

The MGA had written off the discrepancy as an error. It claimed that the MGA management had wrongfully assumed that the services could be procured directly by the MGA and not with the approval of the Ministry of Finance.