The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has concluded that the government’s decision to lease the Downtown Hotel in Victoria, Gozo, for use as a home for the elderly “did not represent an abuse of power or a breach of ethics.”

It noted that the hotel was leased in 2020 as a precautionary measure against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Standards Commissioner, in his report on Wednesday said that this this conclusion was reached after considering a complaint by Prof. Arnold Cassola against Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri.

The complaint had alleged that the lease of the hotel “was abusive because a property built on government land, the Lourdes Home run by the Dominican Sisters, was available as an alternative.”

It also alleged that “this property was allegedly better suited for use as a home for the elderly, and it would have been less expensive than the Downtown Hotel.”

The Commissioner found that the decision had been taken by the Cabinet, and the Lourdes Home belonged to the Dominican Sisters, not the government. The nuns did not consider the Lourdes Home to be suitable as a home for the elderly, and they were unwilling to make it available for this purpose.

Therefore the Commissioner did not uphold the complaint.

The Commissioner also concluded that once the Lourdes Home was not available as an alternative to the hotel leased by the government, he did not have grounds to investigate the use of a direct order to lease the hotel.

This, the Commissioner said, was particularly true when considering that direct orders were permissible under certain circumstances and the country was facing a public health emergency.

The Commissioner’s report on this case can be downloaded by clicking here.

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