Malta not fully compliant with CoE recommendations to prevent corruption by MPs

Malta is one of 12 European countries which are not fully compliant with recommendations set in place to limit corruption by politicians, including MPs, according to the Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe (GRECO) annual report for 2017.

The report, published yesterday, deals with compliance, with recommendations for the prevention of corruption in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors.

Malta is among the countries with a high level of compliance with respect to judges.

Sweden and Finland are the only two countries that have fully complied with GRECO’s recommendations. Estonia has complied with 91.7%, followed by Germany (75%), Slovenia (70.6%) and Bulgaria, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom, which have fully implemented 66.7% of the recommendations.

The report said that although there was overall progress introducing new measures to fight corruption in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors, their practical implementation remained slower than desirable.

The report also features an article paying tribute to Daphne Caruana Galizia written by her sons Mathew, Andrew and Paul: “Journalists are defenceless while corruption is armed.”

In the foreword, Marin Mrčela, vice-president of the Supreme Court of Croatia and president of GRECO, writes: “GRECO has since its beginning included media, civil society and academia in its site visits as an important window on the activities of the member state being reviewed. Many members of the media and civil society organisations work tirelessly to expose corrupt and dishonest behaviours. “I wish to pay tribute to the work of a fearless woman, Daphne Caruana Galizia: the Maltese journalist who was brutally murdered and whose investigations focused precisely on corruption issues. Her legacy and the work of other investigative journalists should be supported and encouraged as transparency is key to accountability.

“The feature article in this report by Andrew, Matthew and Paul Caruana Galizia is a testament to the important work their mother and all the journalists in our member states carry out.

“I encourage you all to read it.”