Though there has been a series of calls for Malta to implement recommendations for the island to fight corruption and organised crime and end impunity, Prime Minister Robert Abela has failed to do so, PN Leader Bernard Grech has said.

“We expect the government to agree with our request, that will be put forward tomorrow, where the legal amendments we announced yesterday that feature no less than 12 amendments to address the failures this government hasn’t addressed, are discussed as soon as possible in Parliament,” he said during an interview on NET Television.

He went on to say that Abela himself has confirmed the government is working on similar amendments.

The PN criticised Abela for a lack of much-needed reforms in various sectors as Malta remains on the FATF’s grey list.

“Robert Abela seems to think that after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta needs to reform journalism. While PN looks forward to debating any Bill presented by government, we need to start by fighting corruption, impunity and abuse of office,” the PN said in a subsequent statement.

“Bernard Grech is walking the talk by proposing serious legislation that affects politicians and public officials.”

“Robert Abela needs to decide whether Malta needs to fix the problems that led to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder or do superficial changes based on the wrong premise,” they continued.

Just this week, the PN proposed that public servants who use private emails, WhatsApp, Messenger or other forms of private communication while carrying out their government duties should face imprisonment.

“We know that there were people who used their private emails to carry out official state communication, including a Prime Minister who chose to negotiate important issues through his private email,” Grech had said in reference to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.