Too early to say if Clayton Bartolo will be allowed to contest election on PL ticket, PM says

It is still too early to say if former minister Clayton Bartolo will be allowed to contest the election on the Labour Party ticket, Prime Minister Robert Abela said Friday.

Bartolo resigned last Tuesday after allegations that his wife Amanda Muscat had received a €50,000 kickback on a deal involving the Malta Tourism Authority added more pressure on the beleaguered minister who was already under fire over a Standards Commissioner report.

The report had found that Bartolo and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri had awarded Muscat a job as a consultant, with a salary raise, in spite of her not having the required qualifications. Bartolo was also kicked out of the Labour parliamentary group.

Asked whether Bartolo stands a chance of being readmitted to the Labour fold as Rosianne Cutajar had been, Abela said that the allegations against Bartolo are fresh and it is too early to say how things will develop.

Cutajar had resigned from the PL parliamentary group – minutes before she was set to be kicked out – after chat exchanges with the man accused of being a mastermind behind the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had been made public.

She had later been re-admitted to the PL group without offering an apology, although Abela had said he required one from her.

Today, Abela said that Cutajar’s removal from the PL parliamentary group was not intended to be perpetual, hinting that a similar procedure may be adopted for Bartolo.