Speaker dismisses Labour MPs privilege complaint against Opposition on Bartolo job scandal
Speaker says the Opposition's statements amounted to 'political bickering'
Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia has dismissed a privilege complaint lodged by Labour MP Andy Ellul against the Opposition, which described a minister’s wife’s fake job as “fraud”.
The complaint followed accusations of fraud by the Nationalist Party (PN) and its media arm, NET News, regarding an employment scandal involving ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri.
In his ruling on Tuesday, Farrugia described the Opposition’s statements as “political bickering”, noting that NET News did not allege that the ministers had been found guilty of fraud in court. Consequently, he ruled out any breach of privilege.
Ellul filed the complaint last week, shortly after parliament’s standards committee unanimously adopted a report by the Standards Commissioner.
The report concluded that Bartolo and Camilleri had abused their ministerial authority by arranging a high-paying consultancy position for Bartolo’s wife, Amanda Muscat, which she did not fulfill. Muscat was officially listed as a top consultant but carried out only secretarial duties, according to the report.
The repercussions of the scandal escalated on Tuesday as Prime Minister Robert Abela announced Muscat would be required to repay the excess salary she received for her bogus consultancy role.
Bartolo, facing mounting pressure, resigned as Tourism Minister and was expelled from Labour’s parliamentary group, with Abela citing “new circumstances” surrounding the case.
These new revelations pertain to an anti-money laundering investigation into Bartolo and Muscat.
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