Bernard Grech has accused the Prime Minister of protecting Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri despite being as guilty as Clayton Bartolo of an ethics breach.

The Opposition leader was speaking on Wednesday after Camilleri was admonished by parliament’s Standards Committee over the Amanda Muscat affair, while Bartolo faced a more severe reprimand.

Government MPs on the committee refused to support motions put forward by Opposition MPs calling on Camilleri to apologise in parliament, be suspended for 30 days and be asked to refund all the consultancy money his ministry had paid Muscat.

The committee is made up of two MPs each for either side of the House and is chaired by the Speaker. The Speaker voted with the government MPs on the Camilleri motions.

By way of contrast, Bartolo was not only admonished but also forced to make a formal apology in the House and refund the extra money paid to Muscat.

Bartolo had already resigned from Cabinet and the Labour Party parliamentary group on Tuesday, following fresh revelations involving suspicious payments to his wife by a company linked to an MTA contractor.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Grech insisted Camilleri had to step down as well and if he continued to refuse, the Prime Minister should remove him.

“Robert Abela continues to try to protect Clint Camilleri despite the fact that the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life found him just as guilty as Clayton Bartolo of abuse of power and breach of the Code of Ethics,” Grech said.

The Nationalist Party is holding a protest outside parliament on Monday evening to demand Camilleri’s resignation.
“Every passing day confirms how this government is mired in fraud and corruption, and how Robert Abela repeatedly chooses who to defend and who to discard,” Grech said, accusing the Prime Minister of endorsing the “fraud” committed by Camilleri.

The Opposition leader said it is up to the people to rid the country from a government characterised “only by fraud, all the time (frodi biss, frodi spiss)”.

Grech urged the people to protest with the PN on Monday. “This is our country, and it is unacceptable for Robert Abela to defend Clint Camilleri instead of serving the people he is supposed to represent,” he said.

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