Cabinet Secretary refusing request for ministerial asset declarations

Cabinet Secretary Ryan Spagnol is refusing to provide a copy of the 2023 asset declarations, which is a violation of the Ministerial Code of Ethics.

An official request sent directly to Spagnol by The Shift has been ignored despite several reminders.

Last week, Prime Minister Robert Abela informed parliament that the annual asset declarations by cabinet members had been submitted on time to the Cabinet Secretary, as required by the Code of Ethics. He also stated that these declarations were already available to the public, as the code mandates.

But the declarations are currently missing, and both Speaker Anglu Farrugia and Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi have confirmed they do not possess a copy.

In a ruling addressing this issue, the Speaker noted that it had been confirmed the prime minister, contrary to standard procedure, did not present the 2023 declarations to parliament as is typically required.

Nonetheless, the Speaker insisted that the House’s standing orders prevented him from ordering the prime minister to table the documents.

Farrugia, referencing the Ministerial Code of Ethics, which is part of the Standards Commissioner’s law, underscored that the rules state ministers must submit their annual declarations to the Cabinet Secretary, who must make them public upon request.

Despite these legal provisions and the Speaker’s ruling, Spagnol continues to withhold the documents.

The code specifies that “the Cabinet Secretary gives access to copies of these declarations as authorised by the prime minister.”

When asked whether Abela had directed him not to follow the code and provide a copy of the declarations to The Shift, Spagnol did not respond. The Cabinet Secretary was convicted of drink-driving in December 2023 but remains in his position.

Following The Shift’s coverage of the prime minister’s latest efforts to limit transparency, scrutiny, and good governance, Abela said last Sunday that he was considering changing the rules to make such declarations more detailed and required from all MPs. However, no specifics were provided regarding when or how he intends to change these rules.

The last time Abela published the mandatory annual declarations was in 2022, when he failed to disclose his wife’s income.

In that same declaration, the prime minister reported conflicting details, stating that he had increased his savings while having spent hundreds of thousands to purchase property in Xewkija, which he is converting into a hotel, all while declaring an income of just €65,000 before tax.

The Shift has been informed that the Standards Commissioner is currently investigating Robert Abela’s 2022 declaration and those of some of his ministers.