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Clayton Bartolo is out of Labour’s parliamentary group after Prime Minister Robert Abela learnt of a new scandal involving him and his wife.

Bartolo was made to resign as Tourism Minister and told he would no longer be allowed to represent the Labour Party in parliament, Abela told the media on Tuesday morning.

The prime minister said the decision was made “in light of different circumstances” to those that emerged from a standards commissioner report into a job he gave his wife, Amanda Muscat.

Those "circumstances" concern an FIAU investigation into roughly €50,000 Muscat received in 2023 from a company linked to a Malta Tourism Authority contractor. 

FIAU investigators have flagged those payments to the police, saying they are suspicious. 

A Tourism Ministry spokesperson told Times of Malta that there was no link between Muscat's work and the contractor's MTA work and that Muscat had declared all her income. 

Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg, who is Foreign Affairs Minister, will take Bartolo’s place as Tourism Minister. Borg is expected to also retain his current ministerial portfolio for the time being. 

Bartolo will continue to serve in parliament as an independent MP, Abela said. 

Ian Borg will assume the tourism portfolio while retaining his current post as Foreign Affairs Minister. Photo: Facebook

Abela declined to comment about the “new circumstances” that led to Bartolo being kicked out of the party’s parliamentary group but acknowledged that Times of Malta had sent questions about them some days ago.

Abela declined to say he had "sacked" Bartolo. 

"I called for him and the decision was taken," he said. Bartolo would now be in a better position to defend himself, he said. 

He said Bartolo and his wife, Amanda Muscat, would be refunding excess payments she received as a fictitious consultant in the coming days. 

Bartolo: I decided to step down

Attempts to contact Bartolo were unsuccessful. He however posted a statement on Facebook, saying he had decided to resign as his position "is being used to harm the government’s reputation."

He said that he was proud to leave behind a tourism industry on solid foundations and said that under his political leadership the country’s film industry had performed excellently on an international level.

He made no reference to allegations being made about him or his wife. 

Bartolo has been tourism minister since November 2020 after being promoted from parliamentary secretary.