Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1468621
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 MAY 2022 2 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 months, with an action report from the country to be submit- ted by 31 March 2023. GRECO said the Commis- sioner for Standards in Public Life had not been vested with any power to impose addition- al sanctions for violations dis- covered, and the function of confidential advice was still not dissociated from the Commis- sioner's competences. It said transparency of the legislative process at the gov- ernment level required further improvement: some measures to facilitate public consultation through electronic access are underway, but they have not led to tangible progress so far. But the accelerated adoption of constitutional amendments in July 2020 was described as "a more recent illustration of the need for greater transparency in the legislative process, includ - ing meaningful public consul- tations." GRECO however called for more safeguards to limit the number of appointments of "persons of trust" in the govern- ment to an absolute minimum, and these positions should be subject to the same integrity re- quirements and supervision as other PTEFs. "No measures have been taken to introduce ad hoc disclosure when conflicts of interest oc- cur in respect of top executive officials and there are no pro- cedures to manage such situa- tions. In addition, regulation of lob- bying and the disclosure of con- tacts between top executives and third parties is yet to be ac- complished, and plans to estab- lish an Integrity Unit to support public office-holders in solving ethical dilemmas have not ma- terialised." GRECO said important chal- lenges remained in the inves- tigations of some of the high- profile corruption cases. "The lack of special investigation techniques for revealing cor- ruption offences also remains a serious drawback." As regards law enforcement authorities, several important policy documents have been adopted, such as the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy, the Po - lice Code of Ethics, the Police Force Transformation Strategy, the Horizontal Movement Pol- icy and the Policy on Business Interests and Additional Occu- pations. A new procedure for the ap- pointment of the Police Com- missioner was also introduced and the new Police Commis- sioner, as well as his Deputy, have been appointed in accord- ance with this new procedure. In addition, new provisions re- garding guidance on gifts were reflected in the updated An- ti-Fraud and Corruption Policy. GRECO was told breaches of the Code of Ethics may trigger sanctions commensurate to the gravity of such breaches, and the role of the newly introduced Integrity Officer has been spec - ified, including as regards con- fidential counselling on ethics and integrity. Recent legislative amend- ments also introduced the Po- lice Disciplinary Appeals Board, which took over the task of ex- amining disciplinary appeals from the Independent Police Complaints Board. Finally, po- lice officers have been enabled to report possible corruption offences anonymously. "These are clearly positive steps. Nonetheless, additional measures must be taken to fully meet the demands of all the rec - ommendations. Thus, greater coherence is needed among the rules on police ethics and integ- rity, which are still contained in several documents," GRECO said. GRECO said it remains un- certain whether sufficient re- sources are provided to the In- dependent Police Complaints Board to clearly establish it as an efficient and independent complaints mechanism. And while police officers re- porting possible corruption from within the Police Force are covered by the ad hoc pro- tection mechanism in the An- ti-Fraud and Corruption Policy, they do not benefit from Pro- tection of Whistle-Blowers Act. GRECO says Malta still behind on implementing many of its anti-corruption recommendations Malta failed another basic compliance test, Repubblika says of GRECO report NICOLE MEILAK CIVIL society NGO Repubblika said Malta failed "another basic compliance test" after several shortcomings were identified by the Council of Europe's anti-cor- ruption watchdog GRECO on Malta's progress over the years. "Even when other countries spoon-feed us on what needs to be done to stop being a nest of corruption, our leaders remain hard-headed and choose to let corruption pass by," the NGO said in a statement. Malta was found to have im- plemented satisfactorily only two out of 23 recommenda- tions by GRECO, while 12 were partly implemented and nine have not been implemented. The watchdog added that the accelerated adoption of consti- tutional amendments in July 2020 was described as "a more recent illustration of the need for greater transparency in the legislative process, including meaningful public consulta- tions". GRECO said Malta had to show further progress over the next 18 months, with an action report from the country to be submitted by 31 March 2023. Repubblika insisted that Mal- ta should make significant pro- gress in the fight against cor- ruption by the time its action report must be submitted. "We call on the government to be open to effective con- sultations with civil society to start seriously fighting corrup- tion."