Standards Committee: Bartolo asked to personally apologise, simple reprimand for Camilleri

The Parliament's Standards in Public Life Committee ordered MP Clayton Bartolo to make a personal apology in Parliament, but chose to simply reprimand Clint Camilleri as part of its sanctions after the two were found in breach of ethics over a top-paid consultancy job given to Bartolo's wife Amanda Muscat.

The Committee, made up of government MPs Jonathan Attard and Andy Ellul, as well as PN MPs Ryan Callus and Mark Anthony Sammut, held a sitting on Wednesday morning to decide on which sanctions it will impose on Camilleri and Bartolo.

Camilleri and Bartolo made their submissions to the Committee in writing, and Speaker Anglu Farrugia said the Committee also received a correspondence between Muscat and the Principal Permanent Secretary Tony Sultana, with a bank draft attached to it, refunding the €16,407 difference which Sultana's office calculated.

The whole committee voted in favour of an apology from Bartolo.

With regard to the position of Camilleri, the government MPs voted in favour of a reprimand while the Opposition MPs wanted a stiffer punishment. The Speaker used his casting vote for a reprimand.

Farrugia said that given Camilleri's submission in having said that he recognized and "bowed his head" to the spirits of the Standards Commissioner report, and in taking into consideration that the amount was returned in its 'totality' according to Sultana, the Speaker voted in favour of Camilleri being reprimanded as a person who was investigated.

Callus and Sammut voted against a simple 'reprimand' for Camilleri, saying that this was not enough, and voted in favour of Camilleri making a formal apology in Parliament too,. The PN also recommended that Parliament recommends a 30-day suspension for the Minister, to which the Speaker voted against.

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