Partit Demokratiku deputy leader Timothy Alden has written to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption to bring forward his complaint that his family received "offers for favours" from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In a statement, Alden said that according to the Chief Justice, investigations can be started by the Police with simple information of a crime brought to their attention, in any form. Furthermore, one may also wish to read the duties of the Police in Chapter 164 of the Police Act. It does not specify a form in which a report is to be considered a report. Disciplinary action for neglect of duty is also in the same Act.
Alden said he expected a "thorough investigation into unlawful practices, whereby people receive preferential treatment for the Party they support and whereby the Rule of Law is broken explicitly to reward, bribe, coerce, extort and punish citizens for their opinions, spitting in the face of freedom of speech and freedom of expression".
He said he does not "expect or want for examples to be made of any individuals, who are simply following what is unfortunately standard practice. Instead, I wish to destroy this idea that clientelism is normal or acceptable. I have already had one witness come forward to say that it ruined this person´s life in the civil service, and the lives of many others this person knows. I have proposed that all political parties come together and abolish the practice by instituting the necessary checks and balances."
To quote a Partit Demokratiku statement on 26 March, reported by the Independent;
"The use of discretionary powers runs contrary to the Rule of Law, as it places opinion before regulated constraints. Partit Demokratiku has for this reason and many others called many times for the appointment of the Commissioner of Standards of Public Life, put into force ignored clauses 21-35 of the Public Administration Act and that judiciary, Police Commissioner and regulators should not be appointed by Prime Minister's discretion."
It is in this spirit that I write to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption - which thanks to Partit Demokratiku is once again active - to expose this corruption via official investigations - and then to diagnose and remedy it. It is something people can and should unite against, and I hope civil society and the media take up this cry.
The following is the letter to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption:
I would like to bring to your attention that my household was contacted by the Ministry of Home Affairs with the intention of offering my family favours in an attempt to bribe me into voting for the government in upcoming elections. This practice leads to corruption across the board in Malta´s institutions. I have had a stranger in the street, unaware of who I was, tell me that the social services regularly receive calls from Castille, to push people to receive benefits they do not deserve. These people are then rubberstamped to receive what is not their due on ineffective boards, leaving people who actually and desperately need help, out in the cold. And they are left out in the cold merely because of what they believe. Bribes are being paid in many forms, and in the civil service there is the threat of punishment for those who do not fall in line, and fear keeps people silent. Money is therefore exchanged, indirectly, via extortion. Clientelism takes on many forms, and most, if not all, are criminal.
Aside from having being contacted personally to this effect, I would like to refer you to a statement by Minister Herrera, whereby the government admits to violating the criminal code in areas which are the remit of the Permanent Commission Against Corruption to investigate.
Herrera´s statement, reported on the Independent on the 4 August, is as follows;
"Like every minister on the island, I have a customer care team. The political situation is what it is and people go to ministers and speak to their customer care team. It's hypocritical to criticise a government because it has a customer care structure to cater for constituents when this has been the system for the past 100 years. The system is what it is. We have a small population where everyone knows each other. They expect politicians to go door-to-door and they expect politicians to accept constituents in their ministry – this is the system in Malta and I would be a hypocrite to say that it isn't. Most of my colleagues and I have a customer care structure, people who know what to do. What they do exactly, I do not know. Today, for example, there were three such people and I refused to see them, so they went straight to customer care."
I believe this in of itself is grounds for investigation, though there are no shortage of victims and beneficiaries across our country who would relish the opportunity to break this silence, and this climate of fear, under confidential oath.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2Hab1K8
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