Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698135780565.pdf (Malta)
Financial Plan 2022 Presented in accordance with article 11(4) of the Standards in Public Life Act Office of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life Valletta, Malta 15 September 2021 2 | P a g e Office of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life 11, St Paul Street, Valletta VLT 1210, Malta www.standardscommissioner.com office@standardscommissioner.com +356 27 269 593 Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Appointment of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life 1.2 The role of the Commissioner 1.3 Resourcing and financial planning 1.4 Outline of this document 2 The Commissioner’s Activities During 2021 2.1 Complaints and investigations 2.2 Review of annual declarations of assets by MPs and ministers 2.3 Negative clearance 2.4 Administrative penalties for non-attendance in Parliament 3 Activities for 2022 3.1 Complaints and investigations 3.2 EU-funded project 4 Staffing, Resources and Logistics 2021 4.1 Staffing 4.2 Funding 4.3 Premises 5 Funding for 2022 5.1 Projections for 2022 Annex 1: Financial Estimates for 2022 Annex 2: Organisation Chart P a g e | 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 7 10 11 11 12 12 12 14 14 14 15 16 16 17 18 4 | P a g e 1 Introduction 1.1 Appointment of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life The Standards in Public Life Act of 2017 (chapter 570 of the laws of Malta) came into force on 30 October 2018.
In terms of this Act, the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life is appointed by the President of Malta on the basis of a resolution of Parliament that must be supported by at least two thirds of all members of Parliament.

The Commissioner holds office for a single five-year term.
Dr George Hyzler took his oath of office as Commissioner for Standards in Public Life on 12 November 2018 following a parliamentary resolution in support of his appointment that was passed with the backing of all parties represented in Parliament.
1.2 The role of the Commissioner The Standards in Public Life Act gives the Commissioner jurisdiction over three categories of people: • ministers and parliamentary secretaries (and parliamentary assistants, if appointed); • other members of Parliament; and • “persons of trust”, defined by the Act as persons who have been engaged directly from outside the public administration to act as consultants or staff in the private secretariat of a minister or parliamentary secretary, or to fill posts elsewhere in the public administration that remained vacant following repeated public calls for applications.
The Act obliges persons in all three categories to observe rules of ethical conduct.

The Act itself sets out two codes of ethics, one for ministers and parliamentary secretaries and one for members of Parliament.

The Act applies the code of ethics for public employees that is set out the Public Administration Act (chapter 595 of the laws of Malta) to persons of trust.
The Commissioner for Standards can consider whether ministers, parliamentary secretaries or other members of Parliament have: • acted in breach of the law; • broken any ethical or other duty set out by law, including the applicable code of ethics in the Standards in Public Life Act; or • exercised discretionary powers in a way that constitutes an abuse of power.

The Commissioner can consider whether persons of trust have broken the code of ethics in the Public Administration Act.
P a g e | 5 The Standards Commissioner can open an investigation on his own initiative or on the basis of a complaint.

However, the Commissioner cannot investigate cases that occurred before 30 October 2018, the day the Standards in Public Life Act came into force.

Nor can he investigate cases that are the subject of legal proceedings or that are already under investigation by the police.

In addition, the Act sets out time limits for persons who submit complaints to the Commissioner.
A person who wishes to submit a complaint must do so within thirty working days from when he or she gets to know about the actions that are the subject of the complaint, and within a year from when the actions occurred.

The Act does not allow the Commissioner to consider complaints that are submitted after any one of these timeframes expires.
If, after investigating a case, the Commissioner finds that any person subject to the Act has acted improperly, he can give that person a time limit within which to remedy his or her actions.

Alternatively, the Commissioner can make a report to Parliament’s Standing Committee for Standards in Public Life.

The Committee can decide to adopt the conclusions of the report; to request the Commissioner to carry out further investigations; or to reject the conclusions.
In addition to considering such cases, the Commissioner can examine and verify the declarations of assets and interests that are made by members of Parliament and ministers in terms of this and any other Act.

A further function of the Commissioner is to ensure that members of Parliament pay the administrative penalties to which they become liable if they miss parliamentary sittings without authorisation from the Speaker.
Finally, the Commissioner can make recommendations for the improvement of the relevant codes of ethics and the better regulation of related matters, such as lobbying, the acceptance of gifts, misuse of public resources, misuse of confidential information, and post-employment restrictions (revolving doors).
In February 2020 the Commissioner published proposals for a new law to regulate lobbying, and in July 2020 he published recommendations for new codes of ethics and associated guidelines for ministers and members of Parliament.

1.3 Resourcing and financial planning Article 11 of the Standards in Public Life Act deals with the resourcing of the Commissioner’s office.
It specifies that the salary, allowances and expenses of the Commissioner shall be at rates equivalent to those applicable to a judge of the superior courts.

It empowers the Commissioner to appoint staff, to determine their terms and conditions of employment, and to authorise expenditure on equipment and supplies as required by his office.
6 | P a g e According to article 11(4), expenditure on staffing and other items by the Office of the Commissioner is charged to the Consolidated Fund without any further appropriation other than the Act itself.

This is subject to a limit on total expenditure that is set out in an annual financial plan drawn up by the Commissioner and approved by the House of Representatives.
The plan should be presented to the House of Representatives by 15 September each year and should indicate the forthcoming year’s activities.

This document has been drawn up for the purposes of article 11(4) of the Standards in Public Life Act.

1.4 Outline of this document Section 2 of this document presents an overview of the Commissioner’s activities during the current year.

This section deals with complaints, investigations and other functions carried out by the Commissioner.
Section 3 covers staffing, funding and logistical matters pertaining to the Office of the Commissioner.

Section 4 provides an overview of the activities to be undertaken by the Commissioner during 2022.

Section 5 outlines the financial requirements of the Commissioner’s office for the year 2022.

The requirements are set out in detail in Annex 1, while an organisation chart appears in Annex 2.
P a g e | 7 2 The Commissioner’s Activities During 2021 2.1 Complaints and investigations 2.1.1 Complaints received, resolved and pending Since assuming office in November 2018 the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has received a total of 100 complaints.

The status of these complaints is as follows.


Table 1: Complaints received, resolved and pending (running totals to date) Complaints received Complaints closed Of which: Found ineligible for investigation Withdrawn by complainant Investigated and concluded Complaints pending Of which: Under preliminary review Under investigation Investigation suspended 100 75 25 43 1 31 13 9 3 The same data is presented on an annual basis below, with 2018–19 being taken as a single year.
Table 2: Complaints received, resolved and pending (annual breakdown) Complaints outstanding at start of year Complaints received Total number of outstanding and new complaints Complaints closed Of which: Found ineligible for investigation Withdrawn by complainant Investigated and concluded Complaints pending at end of year Of which: Under preliminary review Under investigation Investigation suspended * To date.
2018–19 2020 2021* – 29 7 – 11 3 8 – 29 18 11 41 23 1 12 52 36 11 16 4 7 5 16 30 13 0 8 13 9 3 46 21 25 8 | P a g e The number of complaints received during 2020 averaged approximately 10 per quarter.

This rate of submission of complaints has been maintained during 2021.

Indeed the number of thirty complaints received so far during 2021 is identical to the number received at the same stage of 2020, as recorded in last year’s financial plan.
2.1.2 Ineligible complaints On receipt, a complaint undergoes a preliminary review process to determine whether it merits investigation in terms of the Standards in Public Life Act.

In many cases this can be determined immediately, while in others preliminary inquiries would need to be made – for instance, to find out whether the alleged misconduct can be attributed to a person who is subject to the Act.

If a complaint is found ineligible for investigation, the complainant is informed accordingly.
The table below indicates on what grounds complaints have been found ineligible for investigation by the Commissioner.
Table 3: Reasons why complaints were found ineligible for investigation 2018–19 2020 2021* Total Complaint concerned a person who was not subject to Act Complaint concerned conduct that did not fall under Act Complaint was time-barred Complainant was anonymous Complaint was trivial Complaint fell within remit of another authority More than one reason Total number of ineligible complaints * To date.
2 1 1 3 – – – 7 3 9 2 1 1 4 3 3 6 – – 1 2 1 8 16 3 4 2 6 4 23 13 43 Three of the complaints so far considered in 2021 concerned persons who did not fall under the Standards in Public Life Act since they were not ministers, parliamentary secretaries, other members of Parliament, or persons of trust as defined by the Act.
Six complaints were found ineligible because the alleged misconduct did not represent a breach of a statutory or ethical duty on the part of the person who was the subject of each complaint.

One complaint was not investigated since it was adjudged trivial.

Under article 17(2) of the Act, the Commissioner can opt not to investigate complaints if it appears to him that they are trivial, frivolous or vexatious, or they have not been made in good faith.
P a g e | 9 Two complaints were not investigated because the alleged misconduct fell within the remit of another authority.

As a general rule the Commissioner seeks to avoid intruding in the jurisdiction of other authorities.

A further complaint was not investigated for multiple reasons, namely that it was time- barred, it did not concern a person subject to the Act, and it concerned a matter that merited adjudication by another authority.
2.1.3 Investigations concluded The outcome of concluded investigations can be summarised as follows.

Table 4: Outcome of concluded investigations 2018–19 2020 2021* Total Case referred to Standards Committee Case referred to other authorities Case resolved by the Commissioner Case report dealt with practices not individuals Investigation was inconclusive No misconduct found – – 3 1 1 6 2 – 4 2 1 2 Total investigations concluded 11 11 3 – 1 – – 4 8 5 – 8 3 2 12 30 * To date.
This table refers to investigations rather than complaints.

During 2020 the Commissioner received two complaints which he addressed by means of a single investigation1 since they concerned the same matter.

The investigation resulted in a finding that no misconduct had occurred.

Thus the total number of 12 investigations in which no misconduct was found corresponds to 13 complaints, and the total number of 30 investigations corresponds to 31 complaints closed after investigation.
When the Commissioner finds that misconduct has occurred, he has two options: • • to send his report to Parliament’s Standing Committee for Standards in Public Life, which will consider the report and decide what action should be taken; in less serious cases where a breach of ethics can be remedied by the person under investigation, the Commissioner can propose action by way of a remedy.
If the remedy is carried out to his satisfaction, the Commissioner will close the case under article 22(5) of the Standards in Public Life Act.

1 See report on case K/020, issued on 17 July 2020 and available from https://standardscommissioner.com/wp-content/uploads/Commissioner-for-Standards-case- report-K020.pdf.

10 | P a g e So far in 2021 the Commissioner has forwarded three cases to Parliament’s Standards Committee.
The Committee did not consider one of these cases on account of a ruling by the Speaker that the Commissioner should not have proceeded with his investigation because of court proceedings that, in the Speaker’s opinion, concerned the same matter as the Commissioner’s investigation.

The Committee considered the second case but was unable to come to a conclusion because of a tied vote which was followed by the Speaker’s abstention in his casting vote.
The third case remains under consideration by the Committee.

In cases where it appears prima facie that a criminal offence or corrupt practice has been committed, the Commissioner can refer cases to the Police or the Attorney General in terms of articles 18(4) and 22(6) of the Act.

So far, there have been no such cases.

So far in 2021 the Commissioner has concluded four cases with a finding that no misconduct occurred.

Three of these cases concerned ministers while one concerned the Prime Minister.
The Commissioner is empowered to publish reports on cases closed by him immediately, whereas it is up to the Standards Committee to authorise the publication of case reports that are referred to it by the Commissioner.

So far all case reports issued by the Commissioner have been published, except for one report which was the subject of a ruling by the Speaker as mentioned earlier.

The Standards Committee did not authorise the publication of this particular report.
Published case reports are available from the Commissioner’s official website at https://standardscommissioner.com/case-reports/.

2.1.4 Investigations suspended Article 13(3) of the Standards in Public Life Act requires the Commissioner to suspend an investigation if the matter under investigation becomes the subject of court proceedings, a magisterial inquiry, or a police investigation.
In addition, article 18(4) of the Act enables the Commissioner to refer cases to the police if his investigation unearths substantial evidence of criminal conduct by a person to whom the Act applies.

This provision of the Act requires the Commissioner to suspend his investigation while the police are investigating the case so referred.

One investigation, corresponding to three separate complaints on the same matter, is currently suspended on account of these provisions of the Act.
The investigation concerns a case that is the subject of criminal proceedings in court.

2.2 Review of annual declarations of assets by MPs and ministers Article 13(1)(a) of the Standards in Public Life Act gives the Commissioner the function of examining and verifying declarations relating to income and assets by persons to P a g e | 11 whom the Act applies.
Members of Parliament, ministers and parliamentary secretaries are obliged by their respective codes of ethics to make such declarations on an annual basis.

Declarations are made in the spring of each year setting out the position as of 31 December of the previous year.

The Commissioner is currently reviewing the declarations submitted by MPs, ministers and parliamentary secretaries for the years ending 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The Commissioner has written to a number of MPs seeking clarification on aspects of their declarations.

The approach adopted by the Commissioner is to keep the information provided by MPs in response to his queries confidential unless it becomes necessary for him to open a formal investigation under the Act.

So far this has not proved necessary.


2.3 Negative clearance Under article 13(1)(c) of the Standards in Public Life Act, a person to whom the Act applies can seek a ruling by the Commissioner as to whether or not an action he or she proposes to take would constitute misconduct in terms of the Act.

The person cannot be found to have committed misconduct if he or she acts in accordance with the Commissioner’s ruling.

This procedure is known as negative clearance.


During 2021 the Commissioner considered one request for a ruling under article 13(1)(c), and he issued a ruling accordingly.
2.4 Administrative penalties for non-attendance in Parliament Article 13(1)(e) of the Act assigns to the Commissioner for Standards the role of writing to members of Parliament to inform them of any administrative penalties due by them for unauthorised absences from parliamentary sittings in terms of Standing Order 159 of Parliament’s Standing Orders.
The fulfilment of this function requires close cooperation between the Office of the Commissioner and the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

On the basis of information provided by the Office of the Clerk, the Office of the Commissioner has written to several MPs concerning administrative penalties due by them with respect to unauthorised absences during the 2020/2021 session of Parliament.
12 | P a g e 3 Activities for 2022 3.1 Complaints and investigations As noted earlier, the indications so far are that the total number of complaints submitted during 2021 may match the number submitted during 2020.

It is therefore assumed that the rate of submission of complaints will not diminish in 2022.
However, a trend that may be emerging is for some complaints to give rise to complex investigations, particularly due to the need to take evidence from multiple witnesses and to review extensive documentation.

Such a level of complexity can been seen in the Commissioner’s report on case K/032, as issued on 2 July 2021.

This case report was 45 pages long and, in addition, it was accompanied by two volumes of documentary evidence amounting to 175 pages.
A further volume of evidence which was made available in confidence to members of Parliament’s Standards Committee contained 131 pages.

Another case currently under investigation has similarly involved the interrogation of multiple witnesses and the review of extensive documentation, although not to the same extent as case K/032.

This trend has so far affected a small number of cases.

It is assumed that likewise during 2022 only a small number of investigations will assume such complexity.
However, should the number of such investigations increase it will pose heavy demands on the Commissioner’s office and affect resourcing requirements.

3.2 EU-funded project On 15 September 2021 the Commissioner will launch a project entitled “Improving the Integrity and Transparency Framework in Malta”.
This project will be funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG Reform) and will engage the expertise of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a respected international body known for its expertise in the field of good governance.

The project aims to strengthen the Commissioner’s oversight role and to improve awareness of integrity so as to bring about a strengthened public integrity system in Malta.
To achieve these objectives, the project will cover six key areas: • • • increasing the effectiveness of the Commissioner’s office; improving integrity standards to strengthen the Commissioner’s oversight role; improving the process for collecting and verifying declarations of assets and conflict of interest declarations by ministers and members of Parliament; P a g e | 13 • • • strengthening the codes of ethics for MPs and ministers, and supporting implementation through tailored guidance; improving the policy framework for responsible lobbying; and improving communications on integrity.
The project will run for 24 months and it will be supported by a steering committee comprised of representatives from the Commissioner’s office, the parliamentary group of each of Malta’s two main political parties, the Ministry for Justice and Governance, civil society, DG Reform, and the OECD.

14 | P a g e 4 Staffing, Resources and Logistics 2021 4.1 Staffing At present the Office of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life consists of six members of staff including the Commissioner.
Other than the Commissioner, staff members consist of a Director General in salary scale 3 of the public service; an Assistant Director (Research and Communications) in salary scale 5; a Research Analyst and Investigator in scale 7; an Office Manager/Personal Assistant; and a Messenger/Driver.

The complement of the office also includes a position of Cleaner which is currently vacant.
In addition, the Office of the Commissioner has retained a legal advisor, an auditor and a media consultant on a contract-for-service basis.

All three individuals are highly experienced and have a creditable track record in their respective fields.

Investigations are handled directly by the Commissioner with support from the Director General and the Research Analyst/Investigator, and with advice from the legal advisor.
The auditor has played a lead role in the review of annual declarations by MPs and ministers.

The Director General corresponds with MPs concerning administrative penalties for non-attendance in Parliament.

The Assistant Director (Research and Communications) is responsible for research in connection with the revision of codes of ethics and declarations of assets.
In addition, he has assumed a leading role in preparations for the EU-funded project to improve Malta’s integrity system, and he will coordinate this project on behalf of the Commissioner.

As part of its budget for 2021 the office obtained funding for two additional positions, those of Investigator and Administrative Assistant.

The Investigator was envisaged as an addition to the investigations team and the Administrative Assistant would have provided support to the Office Manager.
However, these positions were not filled during 2021.

4.2 Funding Budgeted expenditure by the Office of the Commissioner for 2021 amounted to €633,200.

Of this amount, €478,000 was requested as funding from the national budget, whereas €155,200 were projected as remaining available to the office in the form of unspent funds from the previous year.

Thus the office only sought, and obtained, €478,000 by way of funding from the government for 2021.
It is projected that €246,100 will remain as an unspent balance as at the end of 2021.
This is accounted for primarily by the following factors: • the fact that the positions of Investigator and Administrative Assistant were not filled during 2021; P a g e | 15 • • funds budgeted for staff training and travel (the latter with a view to developing international links) were not spent on account of the COVID-19 pandemic; the need for specialised professional services to assist in the investigation of complaints turned out to be considerably less than expected.
In connection with the last point, article 11(2) of the Standards in Public Life Act states that the Commissioner “may in the conduct of an investigation engage, in a consultative capacity, any person whose particular expertise is essential to the effectiveness of the investigation”.

The extent to which funds are actually used for this purpose depends on the nature and subject matter of the complaints received by the Commissioner and any investigations undertaken by him on his own initiative.
Funds for specialised professional services should therefore be regarded as a contingency.

However, it is important for the funds to be made available to avoid any situations in which the Commissioner compelled to halt investigations or decline to consider complaints on account of insufficient funds.

The unspent balance of €246,100 that is projected for 2021 will be put towards the office’s budgetary requirements for 2022, as set out in section 5 of this document.
4.3 Premises The Office of the Commissioner is housed on the fourth floor of the Office of the Ombudsman at 11, St Paul Street, Valletta.

This arrangement allows for a degree of synergy between the two bodies, since both represent institutions of oversight that report to Parliament.
These premises have been made available by the Office of the Ombudsman under a tenancy agreement whereby the Office of the Commissioner is required to pay €20,000 annually for a period of ten years in defrayal of refurbishment expenses, together with €1,463 as a contribution to rent.

In addition, the Office of the Commissioner reimburses the Office of the Ombudsman for its share of the electricity and water consumption of the building, together with part of the salary of the receptionist.
16 | P a g e 5 Funding for 2022 5.1 Projections for 2022 The financial plan that was presented by the Commissioner in November 2018, and subsequently approved by the House of Representatives, included projections to 2021.

The total expenditure projected for 2021 as set out in this plan amounted to €961,023.

Although this plan was approved, the office has consistently sought to limit its spending to what was strictly necessary in the light of experience and evolving requirements.
The present document envisages a total expenditure of €759,420 for the year 2022, consisting of €377,330 in personal emoluments and €382,090 in operational and maintenance expenses.

As already indicated, the projected unspent amount of €246,100 from 2021 funds will be used to part-finance this requirement, meaning that the funds that are being requested for 2022 are limited to €513,320.

A detailed breakdown of the requested amount can be found in Annex 1.
P a g e | 17 Annex 1: Financial Estimates for 2022 Item Personal emoluments Salaries Bonus Income supplement Social security contributions Allowances (inc. Commissioner’s allowances) Funds requested for 2021 Funds requested for 2022 €274,732 €286,710 €11,663 €15,588 €4,641 €18,404 €53,547 €4,643 €18,789 €51,603 Sub-total €362,987 €377,333 Operational and maintenance expenses 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 40 41 TOTAL Utilities Materials and supplies Repair and upkeep Rent Office services Transport Travel Information services Contractual services Professional services €11,150 €5,000 €15,350 €1,463 €7,330 €16,400 €20,000 €2,000 €7,645 €2,500 €10,938 €1,463 €11,223 €37,237 €20,000 €6,000 €14,580 €11,583 €120,000 €179,157 Training, conferences & seminars €15,000 €15,000 Hospitality Incidental expenses Refurbishment expenses Equipment Sub-total €5,000 €1,000 €30,000 €6,000 €5,000 €1,879 €47,500 €24,962 €270,273 €382,087 €633,260 €759,420 Unutilised monies from previous year (€155,200) (€246,100) Funds requested for the year €478,060 €513,320 18 | P a g e Annex 2: Organisation Chart Commissioner for Standards Legal Advisor (on contract for service basis) Auditor (on contract for service) Director General Media Consultant (on contract for service) Assistant Director (Research and Communications) Research Analyst and Investigator Investigator (new position) Office Manager Administrative Assistant (new position) Driver / Messenger Messenger / Cleaner