The booking of the Ċittadella in Gozo for the wedding of a permanent secretary's daughter "followed procedure" and was not out of the ordinary, Joyce Dimech said on Wednesday. 

This comes after the Standards Commissioner was asked to investigate Culture Minister Owen Bonnici for allowing to wedding to take place. 

Dimech, who is currently a permanent secretary in the home affairs ministry, previously served under Bonnici. 

A story by the Shift News alleged that a legal notice was published just one day before the date of Dimech's daughter's wedding to allow a wedding reception to be held at the Ċittadella "for the first time ever", 

This prompted independent politician Arnold Cassola to request the investigation on suspicion that there could have been nepotism and abuse of power in allowing this wedding reception to take place at a historic venue. 

However, in a statement, Dimech insisted that the venue was booked for her daughter's wedding through established protocol and no special exception was made for their wedding to be hosted at the location. 

"We followed the established procedure and made the booking via the online form on 7 September 2023. This booking facility was available for everybody," she said. 

"In fact we are aware that two, if not three, other bookings for weddings were made, all prior to the publication of the Legal Notice covering the use of Ċittadella for weddings against a fee. It is also evident that the Cittadella has been regularly used for innumerable events over several years."

Dimech also said that the €5,000 fee was paid via bank transfer and there are records of both the the booking form and the banking transaction. 

"Any assertions and claims that we did not make a booking and did not pay the fee for the use of Ċittadella as a wedding venue are completely false.  Furthermore, we followed the procedure available to any interested parties."

In a Facebook post, Dimech said that the allegations made about her daughter's wedding are "completely false" and are only intended to "obscure my credibility and integrity in a role that I have always served with loyalty under different administrations." 

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