Former PN parliamentary secretary George Hyzler is new standards commissioner

The former Nationalist MP George Hyzler will be Malta's first ever commissioner for parliamentary standards.

His name was proposed by Opposition leader Adrian Delia, and also accepted by the Labour parliamentary group, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.

Hyzler will be in charge of regulating MPs' conduct and propriety. One of the tasks assigned to the Commissioner would be to ensure the disclosure of financial interests that may be relevant to the members of Parliament.

Hyzler is himself a former MP and also served as parliamentary secretary in the ministry for economic services between 1998 and 2003, under Eddie Fenech's Adami tenure as Prime Minister. Hyzler is credited with setting up structures to support and promote Malta’s film industry and currently acts as legal counsel to a number of local and international firms. He is also active in transport law advising a number of transport companies.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this appointment was a first for Malta, and would add further transparency and improve good governance.

The commissioner will be able to start investigations upon written complaints or on the commissioner's own initiative.

The commissioner will be granted the authority to review declaration of assets of MPs and will also have a consultative role, allowing MPs the opportunity to seek the commissioner's advice on whether their planned actions or events were in line with the code of ethics.

The commissioner will be able to investigate alleged breaches of the code of ethics "independently" while maintaining confidentiality. This would protect both the accused and the sources.

In the case of persons of trust appointed by ministers, the commissioner will have the authority to order sanctions, unless the person involved falls under the remit of the public service commission.

The commissioner will also be able to forward cases to the police if the investigations lead to suspects of a criminal nature. However, the committee decided that the commissioner is duty-bound to inform the permanent committee about such matters. If no evidence is discovered on any alleged misbehavior, the commissioner will end investigations and inform the committee.