The judicial watchdog in Malta should be reformed and its recommendations enforced, a European Commission report said yesterday.
The planning authority and the issue of political party financing also needed urgent attention, but Brussels’ anti-corruption report highlighted the fact that the Commission for the Administration of Justice did not have enough clout.
The system for ensuring integrity in the judiciary requires closer attention
Brussels feels that “enforcing decisions of the Commission for the Administration of Justice that find a breach of the code of ethics for the judiciary” is of paramount importance.
The report said that the system for ensuring integrity within the judiciary required “closer attention as indicated by the case of a judge [Lino Farrugia Sacco] and a magistrate [Antonio Mizzi]” who had refused to resign from two sports associations (the Malta Olympics Committee and the Malta Basketball Association respectively) after the Commission “ordered them to do so”.
Both had subsequently decided not to run for office in the sports arena. The magistrate was later promoted to judge last year.
In the case of Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, the Commission recommended earlier this year that Parliament could take action to remove Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco from the Bench for breaching the judiciary’s code of ethics.
The Speaker of the House ruled last week that an impeachment motion against the judge was dead because it was moved in a different legislature and, furthermore, the person who had presented it, Lawrence Gonzi, was no longer an MP.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has now moved a new impeachment motion so the process can restart.
The Opposition has accused the government of delaying tactics given that Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, whose son is a Labour candidate, will retire in August.
Brussels has also repeated a call for Malta to revise its system of appointing members of the judiciary. A government-appointed reform commission headed by former European Court of Justice judge Giovanni Bonello has also made the same recommendation.
Malta should “strengthen the ability of the judiciary to handle corruption cases by revising the appointment and dismissal procedures for judges to ensure transparent and merit-based selection and removal”.
Mepa and the problems connected with issuing building permits is also an area that merits more focus in the country’s efforts to fight corruption, according to the report.
Granting permits, particularly to developers for large-scale projects, gave rise to contention and controversy, it found.
While stating that the ongoing planning system reforms were a step in the right direction and should be implemented soon, Brussels commended a recent decision to publish the names of those who made representations or proposals to revise local plans.
Stating the corruption allegations that led John Dalli to resign from the European Commission in 2012 “intensified the debate on corruption in Maltese politics”, Brussels said that Malta should move on and pass a law to address the “non-existent” transparency in political party financing. (A White Paper on the topic was issued yesterday. See front page.)
The Commission report suggested “introducing disclosure obligations and caps on political donations, a ban on anonymous donations beyond a reasonable threshold, publication of independently audited party accounts and monitoring by the Electoral Commission of compliance with transparency requirements”.