Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/631983
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post PAGE 5 MATTHEW VELLA MALTA has advanced up the lad- der of the least corrupt countries of the world according to the 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index, re- leased yesterday by the Transpar- ency International organisation. In moving up the ladder, Malta is now ranked joint 37th place with South Korea and the Czech Repub- lic out of 167 countries, and has one point added to its score which at 56 makes it identical to the 2013 score. In 2014 it ranked 43 out of 175 countries with 55 points, and in 2013 it ranked 45 out of 177 coun- tries with 56 points. Malta was last ranked 37th in 2010. Its score is still lower than its 2012 score when it slid four places in the country ranking while retaining 57 points. In terms of EU members' rank- ing, Malta ranked 20th out of the 28 member states, coming right after the Czech Republic, Spain, Slovenia and Lithuania. In 2015, the Labour government has had to fend off repeated allega- tions of corruption from the Op- position. Corruption now ranks as a major concern in Maltese peo- ple's perception, as a MaltaToday survey published on Sunday shows that since September this concern gained seven points to become a top-five concern of the public. A NAO report issued at the start of the year revealed that the Prime Minister personally facili- tated the payment of €4.2 million to the leaseholders of a govern- ment owned premises in Valletta, the Café Premier, so that the State would reclaim the public property. The process itself was highly ir- regular, given that the leaseholders owed the State rent for their 65- year lease. Later on in the year, it emerged that the parliamentary secretary for lands facilitated a request by property developer Marco Gaf- farena to have his 50% share of a Valletta palazzo expropriated by the government in return for €1.65 million in cash and government lands. Michael Falzon resigned last week after the publication of a NAO audit and IAID investigation. Accusations of corruption and political impropriety did not leave the Opposition unscathed: a former minister, Giovanna Debono, re- signed from the PN parliamentary group to stay on as independent MP when her husband was charged in court with having used public funds from the Gozo ministry for private works carried out for con- stituents; and former minister Joe Cassar resigned from parliament after it emerged he had not declared a gift from Marco Gaffarena's fa- ther Joe, for works car- ried out at his Dingli home. On Sunday morning Prime Minister Joseph Muscat pledged that his government would tackle the issue of governance head-on, and claimed that the resignation of former parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon had not defaulted voters to the PN. While Northern Europe emerges well in the index – it's home to four of the top five countries with Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands – Transparency In- ternational said that just because a country has a clean public sector at home, doesn't mean it isn't linked to corruption elsewhere. "Take Sweden for instance. It comes third in the index, yet the Swedish-Finnish firm TeliaSonera – 37 per cent owned by the Swedish state – is facing allegations that it paid millions of dollars in bribes to secure business in Uz- bekistan, which comes in at 153rd in the index." TI's research shows that half of all OECD countries are violating their international obligations to crack down on bribery by their compa- nies abroad. While the CPI scores are compiled using 12 data sources that provide perceptions of business people and country experts on the level of cor- ruption in the public sector, Malta's score was calculated using four of the sources. A minimum of three sources have to be used for a coun- try to appear in the CPI. PAGE 6 MATTHEW AGIUS THE European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Maltese government to pay two women asylum seekers €6,000 each in damages and expenses, for deny- ing them the right to challenge their de- tention. In its decision, the court threw out their claims that their 12-month detention had breached their right to liberty or that they had suffered torture, inhumane or degrading treatment. The two Somali women – Saamiyo Moxamed Ismaaciil and Deeqa Abdirah- man Warsame – were detained at Lyster Barracks, Hal Far in August 2012 after reaching Malta by boat. The two registered their wish for asy- lum, and two months later, on 2 and 9 November, 2012 respectively, they were called for a refugee status determination interview. By decisions of 19 January, 2013, communicated to the women on 31 January, 2013, the Refugee Commission- er rejected their applications on the ba- sis that they had failed to substantiate their claim that they were born and lived in Somalia. The following month assisted by law yers from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) the women filed appeals against the decisions and were given until 18 March, 2013 to present their submissions. This time-limit was extended and appeal submissions were lodged in April 2013. WEDNESDAY • 27 JANUARY 2016 • ISSUE 453 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY – 37 per cent owned by the Swedish their submissions. This time-limit was extended and appeal submissions were ISSUE NO. 70 | JANUARY 2016 THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE KAMRA TALPERITI NEWSPAPER POST FREE ECHR: lack of judicial review on refugees' detention 'illegal' 'CLEANER' Malta improves corruption ranking Malta improves ranking to 37, gains point in corruption perceptions index which is however based on fewer countries than in 2014