Konrad Mizzi reprimanded for using Department of Information for ‘personal, partisan press statements

● Standards Commissioner follows up complaint from Andrew Borg Cardona

Commissioner for Standards in Public Life George Hyzler has issued a report calling on ministers and the Department of Information (DOI) not to issue press statements unrelated to official matters or partisan in tone.

The report deals with a press statement issued by the Ministry for Tourism through the DOI on 6 February 2019 announcing Minister Konrad Mizzi’s decision to withdraw a number of libel cases he had instituted after allegations of money-laundering were made against him. These allegations, the statement said, had already been declared baseless in court.

In his report, Commissioner Hyzler writes that the press statement deals with a political issue arising from Minister Mizzi’s personal interests and not related to his official duties. Minister Mizzi instituted the libel cases in his own name and damages would have been awarded to him personally had he pursued the cases to a successful conclusion.

Furthermore, the press statement is couched in a partisan tone. Among other things, it accuses members of the Opposition of spinning a ‘web of deceit’ and ‘mud-slinging’. Such terms, the report says, are not appropriate for official statements issued by the DOI.

The report also refers to the practice of feeding the Department of Information such statements, whether or not the statement relates to a matter that is of interest to the public (as opposed to in the public interest). Regardless of how wellestablished this practice may be in Maltese politics, it is wrong, the report states. “The Standards in Public Life Act provides us with an opportunity to challenge customs that are well established in the Maltese political system if such customs fall short of the standards that we collectively aspire to embrace.” The DOI should instead seek to protect its impartiality, with the report calling for a policy to be drawn up on the dissemination of press statements by ministries or, possibly, a wider policy on the role of the DOI in the media world.

The report acknowledges that the absence of such a policy may have misled Minister Mizzi. The appropriate remedy, the report says, is for the minister to direct his officials to be more sensitive to the distinction between official and private or partisan matters, and to refrain from using the DOI for private or partisan matters in future.

In his report, Commissioner Hyzler states that Minister Mizzi agrees with this course of action and the case can therefore be closed.

The commissioner considered the case on the basis of a complaint about the press statement made by Dr Andrew Borg Cardona.