[WATCH] Muscat plays down corruption index, says court decisions negate score

Muscat: Corruption allegations never proven in court

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has defended his government's record on corruption and good governance, saying that despite a decline in Malta's ranking in the anti-corruption index, the courts had repeatedly shown claims of wrongdoing were not factual.

Malta saw the sharpest ever decline in its ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index falling to 51 on the list. Malta ranked 46 last year, having stood at 25 place the first time it was included in the ranking back in 2004.

The Prime Minister was answering journalists' questions after the launch of the Malta Financial Services Authority's new strategy where he said there were other reports which had to be taken into consideration when analysing the situation in Malta.

Asked whether he felt that - after the Labour Party having in the past criticised former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's government for the country's corruption rankings - the government was now ignoring an endemic corruption problem in the Malta, Muscat said that the score achieved now has barely changed since the previous administration's days.

"If you look at the points Malta was give [for 2018], they hardly changed from the time of the previous government. I don't mean the standing, but the score," he said.

The highest ranking in the analysis was Denmark’s at 88, while Somalia obtained the lowest ranking at 10. Since 2012, Malta’s score has fluctuated between 60 and 54, with 2015 registering the highest score in the past seven years. Malta's score increased by three points since 2012 the 49th largest increase out of the 175 countries considered by the report.

"Secondly, without a doubt there are many other reports on [this issue], from independent authorities. And what has emerged from these reports? It's not what Joseph Muscat says - court after court is deciding that [corruption] claims are merely allegations," he insisted.

The Prime Minister went on to say that he wouldn't be turning a blind eye to the issues which emerged from the index ranking, adding that Malta needed to engage more with international institutions, including Transparency International.