Standards Committee orders Clayton Bartolo to apologise to the House, refund money paid to wife
Parliament’s Standards Committee has ruled Clayton Bartolo must personally apologise in the House, refund €16,400 difference paid to his wife • Clint Camilleri admonished
Former minister Clayton Bartolo must personally apologise to the House over the ethics breach involving his wife, parliament’s Standards Committee has ruled.
Bartolo, who resigned from tourism minister on Tuesday, was also admonished by the committee and asked to refund the difference in wage paid to his wife, Amanda Muscat.
The amount worked out by the Principal Permanent Secretary is of €16,400, which is the difference between the wage of policy consultant and that of private secretary - the two roles occupied by Muscat.
However, Speaker Anglu Farrugia used his casting vote on the committee to reject a 30-day suspension from parliament for Bartolo, proposed by Opposition MPs Ryan Callus and Mark Anthony Sammut.
Farrugia said that in light of the other sanctions adopted against Bartolo, he did not feel it necessary to also have him suspended for 30 days.
Bartolo and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri were found guilty of breaching ethics when they employed the former’s wife as a policy consultant. At the time, Amanda Muscat was working as private secretary for Bartolo in the tourism ministry. She was promoted to policy consultant and shortly after she was transferred to the Gozo Ministry. However, the Standards Commissioner found that Muscat was not qualified to act as a policy consultant and never worked as one since she continued serving as private secretary for Bartolo even when she was posted in Gozo.
Camilleri let off with an admonishment
On Wednesday, the committee also admonished Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri for the breach of ethics. However, the Speaker used his casting vote to reject proposals put forward by the Opposition MPs for Camilleri to personally apologise in the House, refund all money paid by his ministry for the consultancy service Amanda Muscat failed to give and make a recommendation for the Prime Minister to remove him from minister.
Government MPs Jonathan Attard and Andy Ellul said the written declaration Camilleri sent to the committee showed that he accepted the Standards Commissioner’s findings, never intended to breach ethics and was committed to ensure the manual of procedure is updated. They said an admonition should be enough.
Opposition MPs, however, insisted Camilleri failed to apologise and his declaration showed no remorse.
Bartolo resigned from minister on Tuesday after his wife was implicated in a separate case of alleged money laundering. The Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit had flagged suspicious payments she received last year to the tune of €50,000, from a company linked to a person who was contracted by the Malta Tourism Authority.
The FIAU passed on its findings to the police for further investigation. The payments are suspected to be a kickback for the MTA contract.
Bartolo has also resigned from the Labour Party parliamentary group and now sits as an independent MP.
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