Clean as a whistle

Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index has again ranked Malta among the most corrupt Western European countries. Only Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary fare worse.

Malta scored just 49 out of a potential maximum of 100 points – that’s a fail. Yet judging by the number of cases that Malta’s Permanent Commission Against Corruption (PCAC)  has referred to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution, you’d think Malta is the least corrupt country in the world.

According to the European Commission’s latest Rule of Law Report, the PCAC did not receive a single report of corruption for the past two years. Malta under Labour, as everybody knows, is absolutely squeaky clean. Everything is done by the book.

The integrity and honesty of our entire Cabinet set the standard for the entire civilised world.  Our Prime Minister is so convinced of his entire Cabinet’s untainted record that he’s the most transparent leader in the world.

All his Cabinet ministers’ asset declarations and those of their spouses are easily accessible online, they’re submitted on time, and every single Freedom of Information request is acceded to without challenge. The Commissioner for Standards has open access, not only to ministers’ asset declarations, but to their bank accounts, tax returns and electronic devices – and those of their spouses and partners. Yeah, right.

Everybody wonders why we even have a Permanent Commission against Corruption when corruption is nowhere to be seen in this upstanding nation of fervent Catholics. Aren’t those three part-time Commissioners and the solitary administrative officer employed by the PCAC an utter waste of taxpayers’ money? They have absolutely nothing to do because Labour has eradicated corruption.

If the PCAC has not even received a single report of corruption in two years, it might as well pack up and close shop. The two cases it received in 2022 were fake.  The PCAC forwarded them to the justice ministry with no allegations of corruption at all. Since its establishment, the PCAC has never transmitted a single case to the Attorney General for prosecution.

Judge Lawrence Quintano and his two fellow part-time commissioners don’t have any time to waste with the public’s frivolous, vexatious reports. He can’t be bothered doing his duty “to screen allegations or suspicions of corruption and determine whether there are sufficient grounds for in-depth investigation”.

No, no, we can’t have that.  The public should carry out those in-depth investigations themselves first, consult a criminal lawyer and an administrative lawyer, make sure that they gather all the necessary proof, check that the evidence they’ve collected proves corruption beyond reasonable doubt and only then take it to the PCAC.

The nation has been told – the PCAC won’t accept any half-baked cases. If you don’t have detailed incontrovertible proof of corruption, don’t disturb the eminent Judge and his part-time commissioners. Besides, he’s only got one administrative officer.  And he’s got no time to waste.

No wonder GRECO suggested that Quintano’s Permanent Commission should be abolished.  GRECO, the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption monitoring body, said Quintano’s PCAC “adds no value to the fight against corruption”.

They’re completely wrong. Actually, the PCAC actively undermines all efforts to fight corruption. Its utter failure to refer even one single case to the Attorney General’s office provides credibility to Labour’s claims that there is no corruption at the heart of our government.

It adds credence to Robert Abela’s cynical claims that “there is no proof, only many allegations”.

The PCAC provides a permanent, robust rejection of Transparency International’s claims that Malta is one of the most corrupt Western European countries. If Malta were so corrupt, how come the PCAC hasn’t managed to find a single case to refer for prosecution, ever?

GRECO was right to be critical of Malta’s PCAC. That PCAC is worse than useless.  It’s a permanent obstruction to the fight against corruption. It didn’t escape GRECO’s notice that PCAC has “produced limited concrete results”. GRECO was spot on when it commented that Malta has many institutions on paper, but they all “lacked impact in practice”.

GRECO has repeatedly called on Malta to strengthen its anti-corruption strategy, enhance enforcement of integrity standards, and ensure effective sanctions and enforcement tools for any breaches of ethical rules. Instead, Malta has a standing joke called the Parliamentary Standards Committee, chaired by the joker-in-chief Speaker Anglu Farrugia, whose idea of effective sanctions is writing a polite letter to Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar over her obscene breach.

GRECO strongly recommended that Malta strengthen its asset and interest declaration systems. Instead, Robert Abela did the exact opposite. He didn’t just weaken the asset declaration process; he completely dismantled it.  Because when you have absolutely nothing to hide, why spend so much effort concealing everything?