MPs unclear if parliamentary standards czar should publish findings on complaints

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s first meeting with the Standing Committee for Standards in Public Life was marked by a lack of clarity on the issue of whether findings of no wrongdoing on the behalf of an MP should be made public.

The Committee, chaired by Speaker Anglu Farrugia and formed by members Edward Zammit Lewis and Byron Camilleri from the government, and Simon Busuttil and Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici from the Opposition, met with George Hyzler - who was appointed Standards Commissioner in November - today, and and discussed a number of issues.

Hyzler said that he had received three complaints to date which were being investigated. He said he had also received one more complaint, but this was deemed to be inadmissible because it had to do with a person who wasn’t a person of trust as defined by the law.

Both Camilleri and Busuttil raised the question of how to interpret the aspect of the law which sets out which of the Commissioner's report are to be brought forward to the Committee for evaluation. They asked Hyzler if, in the situation when a complaint is brought before him, but he finds that no wrongdoing took place, whether the issue would end there, without the Committee being informed about it.

The Commissioner must draw-up a report on a case within six months of receiving a complaint, and has to then submit it to the Committee, who in turn have three months to scrutinise the Commissioner’s decision. However, Hyzler told the Committee that the law didn’t speak of what would happen if he found that there is no case based on the complaint, and only specifies what would happen if it is found that there is a breach of ethics or misconduct by an MP or person of trust.

Zammit Lewis said that this matter had to be clarified from the outset, and that he didn’t agree that a report investigated by the Commissioner, and in which it is determined that there is no case, shouldn’t be submitted to the Committee. “If a case isn’t brought to the attention of the Committee, how can it have an advisory role and how can we request that the Commissioner investigate further? In my view, even if he finds there is no wrongdoing, this is still a conclusion. I think we should see be able to see every case, at least at face value."

The issue was also raised about whether it should be made public if someone is cleared of a complaint regarding a breach ethics or misconduct, especially if such a complaint is publicised in the press.

The committee members all agreed that if someone is freed from any misdeed, their name should also be cleared in public. “You can’t have a situation where an MP is crucified once a complaint is made, and this situation isn't remeded if it is found he did nothing wrong,” Mifsud Bonnici highlighted.

Hyzler confirmed that those subject to complaints will be informed of the Commissioner’s decision, and will subsequently be free to publicise this conclusion himself.

Responding to a question by Busuttil, Hyzler said that the law gave him the power to investigate acts carried out after 30 October 2018.

Busuttil also asked about the report recently published by the Venice Commission on Malta’s institutions, and whether the Commissioner would be looking into the criticism levied towards the system in Malta allowing part-time MPs. Hyzler, however, said this should be a subject discussed at parliamentary level.

“I frankly doubt this is something I should be involved in. It should be discussed in Parlaiment, unless it is being treated as a matter of conflict of interest,” he said.

“What worries me, however, is the issue of backbenchers whose principal duty is to hold the government to account. Since they themselves are part of the government, this in my mind is contradictory and needs to be studied. I will be doing this.”

Commissioner meets with British counterpart

Hyzler said that he and the Commissioner's Office director general Charles Polidano met with Catherine Stone, the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, so that she could share the British experience of the functioning of her Office.

“Through our meeting we gained a better understanding of how the equivalent Office in the UK works,” Hyzler said, noting that, in contrast to Malta, its functions are split across different committees.

Stone has also been invited to address MPs in the Maltese Parliament towards the end of May.