Constitutional lawyer floats proposal for ‘Auditors’ Court’

The constitutional lawyer Austin Bencini has proposed the set-up of a court of auditors that could be introduced to the administrative law code being debated in Nationalist MP Franco Debono's committee on legal recodification.

The proposal was eagerly welcomed by Debono, who has asked Bencini to contribute further to the debate on the administrative code by illustrating the role and workings of an auditor's court.

In listing an example that would be put to the scrutiny of such a court, Debono mentioned the case of the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools, the government entity that issued over 90% of its contracts without public tender and was the subject of a magisterial inquiry. FTS fell under the responsibility of former education minister Louis Galea, who was ousted on the selfsame district Debono was elected from in 2008, and is today appointed to the European Court of Auditors.

Justice minister Chris Said, who was present for the debate, also asked whether time had come for a strengthening of the role that parliament's Public Accounts Committee already has.

The Italian 'Corte dei conti' is an institution set up by the Constitution for the a priori audit of the legality of government acts, as well as the audit of the management of the state budget. In similar ways to the role of the Maltese auditor-genal, the court carries out the external audit of the administrative and financial management of the State administrations, while maintaining a full independence from the Executive. 

The Italian auditors' court however also has a strong jurisdictional power enabling it to prosecute civil servants and public administrators who have caused financial damages and losses to the State or other public administration budgets through faulty or criminal activities.