The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life insisted on Monday that his role is to bring about change and he did not entertain any arguments by people under investigation that they were only doing what had been done for years.
Speaking before the House Business Committee, George Hyzler also defended his appointment as a former politician, saying that decision had clearly been taken because the holder of the post needed to understand how politics and politicians worked.
Hyzler served as a Nationalist Party MP between 1995 and 2003.
Labour MP Glen Bedingfield last month repeatedly insisted that the appointment of a former politician undermined the credibility of the office, which he accused of being partisan in its actions.
Major reform set to cut lengthy proceedings in criminal trials timesofmalta.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofmalta.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
I will no longer accept half-truths from MPs, George Hyzler tells ethics committee
George Hyzler appears before standards committee to discuss report on Minister Carmelo’s print media advert
21 April 2021, 6:49pm
by Karl Azzopardi
Standards czar George Hyzler told the Standards in Public Life Committee he will no longer hold back from penalising MPs when they refuse to present the requested information.
The report found that Abela s conduct constitutes a breach of several articles of the Code of Ethics for Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, specifically articles 4.9, 4.10, 5.3 and 7.4.
While he was not referring to this specific case, Hyzler warned that he will no longer accept being provided with limited information when investigating a case.
Commissioner for Standards in Public Life George Hyzler faced questions from MPs on Wednesday in the wake of his report that taxpayer-funded adverts by minister Carmelo Abela breached ethical standards.
The report, published last week, found that the adverts which appeared in print media last year did not provide “information of value” to the public and were intended to boost the minister’s image.
The complaint was filed by civil society NGO Repubblika, who are insisting the minister refund the expense.
Abela has defended the adverts, saying he has a duty to inform the public of his work.
Placed by a company called Striped Sox, the ad campaign cost the taxpayer €7,012.98, including VAT, to feature in Illum, Malta Today, The Sunday Times of Malta, The Malta Independent on Sunday, It-Torċa and KullĦadd.
Updated noon, adds PL statement
The Prime Minister’s power to select judges from a shortlist does not breach EU law, the European Court of Justice has ruled.
EU law does not preclude national constitutional provisions such as the provisions of Maltese law relating to the appointment of members of the judiciary, the ECJ said in its decision, after a challenge by civil society organisation Repubblika.
“It does not appear that those provisions might lead to those members of the judiciary not being seen to be independent or impartial, the consequence of which would be to undermine the trust which justice in a democratic society governed by the rule of law must inspire in individuals,” the ECJ said on Tuesday.