Watch: Tourism Minister says he will abide by what Standards Committee decides over ethics breach

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has said that he abide by what the Standards Committee will decide over his ethics breach case.Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri were found by the Standards Commissioner to have abused their power when Bartolo's the

By: independent.com.mt

Nov 15 2024
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Watch: Tourism Minister says h

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has said that he abide by what the Standards Committee will decide over his ethics breach case.

Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri were found by the Standards Commissioner to have abused their power when Bartolo's then-girlfriend Amanda Muscat was given a job she had no qualifications for, and did not do. The tourism and Gozo ministers respectively were found to have failed to administer public funds diligently, Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi said in a report which was published by the parliamentary ethics committee. Azzopardi found that Amanda Muscat, now Bartolo's wife, was first promoted from being Bartolo's personal assistance to his consultant with an increased salary of almost €62,000 and, later, this was upped to €68,000 when she moved to Camilleri's ministry in 2021. The 40-page report showed that Muscat did not have the necessary qualifications for the job and did not do consultancy work. By and large she continued to work as Bartolo's private secretary, with a consultant's salary, even when she was employed with Camilleri.

Asked why he has not yet resigned following the report by the Standards Commissioner, Minister Clayton Bartolo said: "The Standards Commissioner's report was clear, in the sense that there is no mention of the word fraud. If you read the report the word fraud isn't there, nor is there mentioned the phrase 'phantom job', something that the PN is inventing."

He said that his position is clear, "as the prime minister said, and I have nothing to add." Asked if a single email was found to show that his now wife had done consultancy work, he said: "The Commissioner spoke about all this and proved that work was done."

Challenged and told that the report is clear, the minister said: "the report doesn't show fraud nor a phantom job. It shows neither of them. If somewhere in the report you find me those two words then I will say you are right," he said, adding these words aren't found anywhere.

Asked whether his wife having had a €70,000 a year job was justified, he said: "I already answered and I have nothing to add."

Asked whether he stands by what he told the Standards Commissioner that his wife had the necessary qualifications to work in the tourism sector, and to specify what her qualifications are, the minister said "Amanda Muscat, who is today my wife, had long been working in the ministry and had worked on a number of projects in the ministry. This was all explained in the testimony that emerged from the report." He said that when she worked in the Tourism Ministry, "we weren't relations, and that also emerges from the Standards report." He said that she had the necessary experience to work in that sector, adding that this was said by his former chief of staff in his testimony "which shows that she had experience.

"In life, everything isn't about diplomas and degrees. In life you have those who are capable also because of experience."

Asked about the €15,000 expertise allowance his wife received, he said: "the manual (for hiring persons of trust) does not lay out criteria, nor does it say what qualifications you have to have to be given. The manual at no point was breached, and this was explained in the Standards Commissioner. In fact, the report recommends that the manual be reviewed so that if needed, it changes. Now agree or not with the Commissioner, that manual was not breached. If there was a breach of the manual you would be telling me to resign. Now because it wasn't breached you are telling me to resign also."

Asked whether the money that Muscat was given for consultancy work will be returned, the minister said: "I stay in line with what is recommended by the Standards Committee, what is recommended by the committee, I will abide by 100%."