Council of Europe calls for prompt action as Malta fails its latest anti-corruption assessment

Malta has still only satisfactorily implemented four of the 23 recommendations outlined in the Council of Europe’s GRECO’s (Group of States against Corruption) Fifth Round Evaluation Report.

Ten recommendations remain partially implemented, while nine have not been implemented, according to the most recent assessment.

In its Second Compliance Report, adopted by the Council of Europe’s Assembly last December and published on Thursday, the anti-corruption body heavily criticised the Maltese government for failing to address several critical recommendations by GRECO made in March 2019.

The review of Malta’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Act is among those recommendations that have not been implemented.

The rapporteurs noted that despite some initial steps, such as selecting an external consultant to analyse the current legislation (a report that remains unpublished) and the government’s claim that a new case management system for information requests would be introduced by the end of 2024, no tangible progress had been made.

Another recommendation that has not been implemented is for the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life to be equipped with the appropriate means and possibilities to conduct inquiries and propose effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

In a scathing rebuke of the Maltese authorities’ insistence that damage to the reputation of public figures found to have breached ethical and integrity rules was enough redress, the CoE rapporteurs insisted GRECO recommendations must be implemented.

“GRECO takes note of the authorities’ diverging view regarding this recommendation. However, this position is immaterial in the context of the compliance procedure. GRECO expects recommendations issued as a result of the mutual evaluation to be acted upon,” the report stated.

In the latest illustration of how little Malta’s public figures care about reputational damage, Prime Minister Robert Abela was found to have breached the ministerial code of ethics in the latest investigation by the Standards Commissioner. Yet the prime minister refused to make a public apology as requested by the Commissioner, insisting instead that his staff should be blamed, not him.

No progress has been made in implementing the CoE’s recommendations on declarations of assets and interests, which are not fully developed and lack extensions to include information on spouses and systematic online accessibility.

Other recommendations ignored concern lobbying regulations and more transparent rules on appointments to positions of trust. The recommendations to introduce new laws, such as wiretapping and similar special investigative measures to help prosecute corruption cases, also remain unaddressed.

Similar recommendations were made by the public inquiry tasked with looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Among several recommendations, the public inquiry board called for the introduction of unexplained wealth orders, laws to criminalise obstruction of justice by public officials and specific abuse of office laws for government officials.

In conclusion, GRECO’s rapporteurs note that “Malta is not in sufficient compliance with the recommendations contained in the Fifth Round Evaluation Report” and have requested a report from the Maltese authorities detailing progress on outstanding recommendations by 31 December.

They also urged the Statutory Committee’s President to notify Malta’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe about the non-compliance and the need for prompt action.

The GRECO report can be found here.