Hyzler denies leak of ethics report, calls for discretion on publication to return to his office

Standards Commissioner George Hyzler has denied suggestions that an ethics report could have been leaked to the media, and has also called for the decision on whether such reports should be published or not to move solely back to his discretion.

The letter came after Speaker Anglu Farrugia decided not to go ahead with the Standards Committee meeting regarding the reported ethics breach of Minister Carmelo Abela on Friday morning after the government members on the committee didn’t show up.

Labour MPs had asked for an investigation by the Speaker into leaks from the Standards in Public Life Parliamentary Committee.

In a statement on Thursday, Labour MPs Edward Zammit Lewis and Glen Bedingfield lamented that a report issued by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler had been leaked.

In a letter to the Speaker on Friday, Hyzler explained that the reports which he submits are of three types.

The first is where he is of the opinion that there is no evidence of misconduct – in which case the report is published by his office and the report is submitted to the committee for informational purposes.

The second is where he finds misconduct but has agreed a remedy with the individual concerns – in which case the report is also published by his office and is submitted to the committee for informational purposes.

The third is where evidence of misconduct is found, and no remedy as per the law can be made. In such a case, the report is submitted to the committee for its consideration.

In the latter case, Hyzler said that on 2 April 2019, an agreement had been reached wherein the Committee would have the discretion on whether those reports which find evidence of misconduct are published.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I feel that this procedure is creating unnecessary polemics and gives rise to unfounded suspicions that reflect negatively on my office and on yours,” Hyzler told the Speaker in his letter.

He said that the understanding is being used to hamper the work of the committee and that it goes against the principle of transparency that his office was established to uphold.

Hyzler described the delays to proceedings concerning this particular report as “totally inexplicable” and said that he feels that the decision on whether and when to publish a report should be his responsibility and not that of the committee.

He asked for the matter to be brought up for discussion at the first opportunity.

Hyzler also commented on the alleged leak to the media of the report – something which the PL representatives had said occurred and hence, did not attend the sitting scheduled to take place today.

He said that there is nothing in any of the stories published by the media to suggest that a leak has taken place.

A Newsbook story singled out in this context simply stated the obvious conclusion – that is that once a report is given to the committee and not published, it means that there has been a finding of misconduct, Hyzler said.

Furthermore, Hyzler notes how the article uses phrases which do not appear in the case report, and also states that questions were sent to Minister Carmelo Abela asking how much was spent on his publicity campaign – a figure which was set out in the report itself.

He said that this was stated simply to “underline the fact that delay in the publication of case reports, especially delay without valid reason, needlessly encourages speculation on the one hand and mistrust on the other.”

In statements on the meeting earlier in the day, the PN said that the government members had chosen to abdicate their duty and pin the blame on journalists, while the PL said that the PN could only be taken seriously when it starts respecting authorities and not simply using them for political gain.

Civil society NGO Repubblika meanwhile, who filed the complaint in the first place, called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to take action against the PL’s no-show members, saying that such “puerile games” were an insult to the people that the MPs represent.