Slimmer code of ethics for ministers, says Muscat [LISTEN]

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has suggested that a new code of ethics for government ministers and MPs will be slimmer and carry less detail than the current code.

Muscat was answering to questions about a waiver he gave to parliamentary secretary Franco Mercieca, to attend to patients who needed his specialist ophthalmology surgical services on Sundays.

Government ministers and secretaries have to relinquish their private, professional duties once they take up their official duties.

On his part, Muscat said it was his prerogative as prime minister to give Mercieca, who was elected for the first time to parliament in March 2013, a "limited waiver" on the code of ethics.

"Today the situation is that this code of ethics has a proviso, and it has been used for ministers who have lectured at the University of Malta. With all due respect, I believe it was designed particularly for lawyers. And I don't see a problem with this. If it wasn't for this proviso, university students would not have had the privilege of attending lectures by a statist like Guido de Marco."

Muscat said it was his right as prime minister, to take a decision on the code of ethics and how it applies to ministers. "In the past, it was given short shrift when it came to some notary who still attending to clients at his firm, or a minister accepting freebies," Muscat said in a reference to former parliamentary secretary Tony Abela and former finance minister Tonio Fenech, respectively.

Instead he opined that the code of ethics needed updated. "I think this code is too voluminous and it makes it impossible for people to follow it to the letter. I think it should it be slimmer, with principles that leave no doubt as to what its red lines are."

Muscat also defended his decision on Mercieca saying that it would have saved the government money in employing another specialised ophthalmologist, claiming that Mercieca's services were unique at the present time.