Fellow University of Malta lecturers Arnold Cassola and Vincent Marmarà are both more well known for their work beyond the institution… but following an ethics complaint lodged by Cassola against Marmarà with the UOM, the two ended up in a fiery back-and-forth this morning.The whole controversy revolves around a survey carried out by statistician Marmarà’s company Sagalytics about Yorgen Fenech and Daphne Caruana Galizia last summer, weeks ahead of a trial which would eventually acquit Fenech of any involvement in Caruana Galizia’s murder.Commissioned by Yorgen’s uncle Ray, the survey seems to have been carried out with a certain veil of anonymity “to ensure the independence of the research process”… but when political party Momentum published the survey’s questions this morning, its leader Arnold Cassola questions the ethical implications of it all.As a result, Cassola lodged an ethics complaint against Marmarà, alleging that he undermined the University of Malta’s good standing by not only carrying out the survey, but by misrepresenting who was behind it.Yesterday, on behalf of retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia, the University dismissed the complaint.In an excerpt from the investigation which Cassola published himself, Valenzia argued the survey was carried out by Marmarà’s company, not him personally, making it a separate legal entity from him. Because of this, Valenzia continued, Marmarà did not need an ethics consent, since his work was private, not academic. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lovin Malta (@lovinmalta)Reacting to the news, Marmarà took to Facebook this morning to celebrate the fact that “the truth continues to emerge”.“The conclusions found that the accusations were not sustained by the facts or evidence, and the Judge Emeritus also criticised the serious or offensive personal accusations which were made about me,” Marmarà wrote. “He insisted that the least Professor Cassola can do is take back his offensive language and apologise for the damages caused.”Cassola had branded Marmarà a “liar” and a “filthy crook” in light of this recent revelations.“My professional work should always be judged on facts and evidence, not allegations and personal attacks,” Marmarà finished.It didn’t take long for Cassola to reply… and all he seems to have done is double down on his allegations and opinions.“It is shameful that the University of Malta, to which I proudly belong, seems not to be concerned with the ethical behaviour of its academic members when they are operating outside university,” he wrote in a press release he even posted directly under Marmarà’s post. “It is likewise shameful that a private company phones up respondents and does not inform them of the name of the company phoning.”“Unlike the University of Malta, I believe that academics should ensure that high ethical standards should be maintained within and outside academia and therefore I confirm that I consider the behaviour of an entity that does not provide its respondents with the name of the company when introducing itself to be absolutely “imgiba ripunjanti” (repugnant behaviour) worthy of “giddieb” (liar) status,” Cassola finished.What do you make of this whole saga?•