Silvio Schembri cleared of ethics breach in constituency office controversy

Economy Minister Silvio Schembri has been cleared of an alleged breach of ethics by the standards commissioner over political offices he acquired from leading contractors.

The investigation was initiated in March 2023 following a request by then Repubblika President Robert Aquilina. The complaint was based on news reports that appeared in The Shift concerning the transfer of public land to the contractors from whom Schembri acquired offices in Luqa and Siġġiewi.

In 2023, Schembri was responsible for the lands portfolio but Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi said the composition of the Lands Authority board was not the responsibility of one minister. The board also included a representative of the Opposition who had voted in favour of the land transfers in question.

The commissioner said the board’s composition meant Schembri did not have the power to order the authority to transfer parcels of land in Mellieħa and St George’s Bay in St Julian’s to the relevant contractors. “There was no possibility of a conflict of interest tied to these land transfers,” the commissioner concluded, clearing Schembri of the alleged ethics breach.

However, Azzopardi added: “This conclusion does not mean that there is no scope for preoccupation if a minister is granted benefits by a developer or businessperson, or that these benefits cannot create a conflict of interest in different circumstances.”

The standards commissioner called for effective controls on donations or benefits in kind made to ministers and MPs.

The issue concerns a tender issued by the Lands Authority for the sale of a tract of land in Mellieħa to be turned into apartment blocks. The owner of an adjacent tract of land, T&S Property Holdings—of which developer Paul Attard is the majority shareholder—was to be given the right of first refusal.

The standards commissioner was asked to investigate an alleged breach of ethics since Schembri was using an office for constituency work in a block of apartments in Luqa built by Attard.

Schembri had a promise of sale agreement on the Luqa office that preceded the 2022 general election. Schembri was made responsible for lands after the election.

The standards report notes that a month after the ethics complaint was filed in 2023, Schembri and his wife bought the Luqa office outright from Attard, with the commissioner noting that any potential conflict that may have existed would have ended by then.

A second allegation concerned an office used by Schembri in Siġġiewi belonging to developer Anton Camilleri, known as il-Franċiż. Camilleri had also acquired a small tract of public land in St George’s Bay, which was necessary for his Villa Rosa project.

Schembri presented a rental agreement for the Siġġiewi office by which he paid the relatively low commercial rent of €319 every three months to Camilleri’s company.

Nonetheless, the standards commissioner rejected the links drawn between Schembri’s two offices and the transfer of public land on the basis that the minister could not order the Lands Authority board what to do. The board is composed of several member chosen by different ministers. It also includes a representative of the Opposition and a chairperson appointed by the prime minister. It is the board that ultimately decides on land transfers.