Muscat abused powers with Konrad Mizzi consultancy – standards report

A report by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler into a revolving doors consultancy to former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, suggests former prime minister Joseph Muscat exceeded the powers of his office.

The as-yet-unpublished report will find that it was Muscat who as PM, instructed that the Malta Tourism Authority regale the outgoing tourism minister Konrad Mizzi to give him an €80,000 consultancy.

The consultancy was repealed almost immediately in the wake of the public outrage that engulfed the nation when Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech was arrested in December 2019. Mizzi, one of the protagonists in the Panama Papers, was associated with Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, who resigned following Fenech’s arrest.

The Standards report has not yet been published, and it will be released once Hyzler presents the report to the parliamentary standards committee.

MaltaToday understands that the report will state that the abuse of the PM’s power is a breach of law. Any action on a breach of law can be forwarded to the police for further investigation.

Joseph Muscat resigned from parliament at the start of the re-opening of the House in October, ending a career of 12 years as MP,

Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Carmel Cacopardo, who filed the original complaint, has called on the Speaker of the House to release a standards investigation report that details a breach of someone in power in the award of the consultancy.

In January, Cacopardo requested the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life to investigate the appointment of Konrad Mizzi as an MTA consultant. “In particular, I asked that Joseph Muscat, Gavin Gulia and Johann Buttigieg be investigated in their capacity as Prime Minister, Chairman and CEO of the MTA respectively,” he said.

The final report was passed on to the Speaker of the House and will not be publicised until a committee of MPs publishes it.

An investigation report which details the breach of standards of someone who has been investigated is not released by the Commissioner.

“It seems clear that the Commissioner has in fact found that there are serious shortcomings in the circumstances surrounding Konrad Mizzi’s appointment,” Cacopardo said back in September. “As had happened when the Commissioner concluded that Joseph Muscat had failed ethically when he accepted Petrus wine from Yorgen Fenech, the report will go to the Parliamentary committee.”