Standards Commissioner won’t investigate Aaron Farrugia

Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia won’t be investigated by Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi for failing to show up in Parliament to answer parliamentary questions.

Farrugia did not attend the plenary on 15 November 2022 although he had been scheduled to answer questions over an assault by Transport Malta officers on a motorist.

The commissioner stated that Farrugia should have planned his meetings better to ensure he could attend the session, but that this did not amount to a breach of ethics.

While the ministerial code of ethics only permits ministers and parliamentary secretaries to skip parliament if they are abroad or unwell, a parliamentary standing order also allows official government work.

“Given standing order 158, I cannot reasonably conclude that there is a breach of ethics if a minister absents himself from parliament due to government work, provided they inform the party whip. It is then up to the whip to inform the speaker,” the commissioner concluded.

He said Farrugia was unclear in his communication to his party whip when he had scheduled a meeting that clashed with his parliamentary duties.

Repubblika and PN criticise the decision

Civil society NGO Repubblika, which had requested the investigation, said that poor planning did not excuse a breach, and accused the standards commissioner of “burying” the case.

“It appears that Prime Minister Robert Abela is succeeding in neutralising the Commissioner for Standards and turning the office into an instrument to protect and promote his impunity and that of his friends”, Repubblika said.

The Nationalist Party said that “like Pilate”, Commissioner Azzopardi was washing his hands of all the cases put forward to him.

This confirmed Prime Minister Robert Abela’s choice of Joseph Azzopardi for Commissioner of Standards in Public Life was only intended to hijack yet another institution, the PN commented.