PM threatened standards reform in 2023 after Arnold Cassola’s complaint

Prime Minister Robert Abela warned the Standards Commissioner in a 2023 letter that he would change the Standards in Public Life Act because of “frivolous complaints” filed to the office by Momentum Chairperson Arnold Cassola.

The letter was attached to the commissioner’s report clearing Abela of an ethics breach. Read the letter below.

In the letter, Abela said he was concerned that the Standards Act was being abused by Cassola. “It is abundantly clear that a plurality of frivolous complaints are being submitted because, at present, the law does not impose sanctions,” he said.

“I understand that if such abuse continues, the remedy must be legislative,” he concluded.

Abela’s criticism resembles his arguments in favour of reforming the law on magisterial inquiries, which was approved in parliament on Wednesday.

The reform was put forward after lawyer and former Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi filed a flurry of inquiry requests over the Christmas period.  The prime minister accused Azzopardi of abusing the magisterial inquiries law to win political points.

The letter indicates that he felt similarly towards Cassola, who frequently files requests to the standards commissioner on potential ethics breaches by ministers and MPs.

“It is very clear that, for the complainant [Cassola] – who has consistently received a clear verdict from the people – what they cannot achieve through democratic means, they are trying to obtain through other avenues.”