Robert Abela's decision to open the door to Rosianne Cutajar isn't the first time a Labour government has reconciled with a politician who resigned over a scandal.

Since the 2013 general election, at least four high-profile politicians have returned to the fold after a period in exile. 

Here are four other examples:

Konrad Mizzi

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with former Energy and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Labour’s 2013 star-candidate, Konrad Mizzi, lost his energy and health portfolio in a 2016 cabinet reshuffle following the Panama Papers leaks when he was found to have secretly opened a company in Panama.

He, however, remained as a minister without portfolio in the prime minister's office. He was also made to resign the Labour deputy leadership.

Then-OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri was also exposed in the Panama Paper leak.

Mizzi reconciled with Labour and was reappointed minister after being re-elected in the 2017 general election.

However, he was forced to resign again from the cabinet in November 2019, over corruption scandals linked to journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. He was tourism minister at the time.

Barely two weeks following his resignation, he was given a €80,400 a year consultancy job with the tourism ministry, along with other benefits, including a fully-expensed car, a full-time driver and free medical insurance for himself, his wife and children.

Upon the election of Abela as Prime Minister in January 2020, and the revelations in the media about this contract, Mizzi’s consultancy was immediately ended, and the contract was withdrawn.

Justyne Caruana

Former Education Minister Justyne Caruana. Photo: Matthew MIrabelli

Gozo Minister Justyne Caruana resigned in January 2020 following Times of Malta reports on her then-husband’s friendship with alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech.

Prime Minister Robert Abela asked Caruana to resign, and she obliged. She, however, stayed on as a Labour MP.

After 11 months, she was re-appointed to Cabinet in November 2020 as the new Minister for Education.

Just over a year later, she was once again forced to resign after an 89-page report compiled by the Standards Commissioner found that Caruana released a €15,000 contract to her friend Daniel Bogdanović to draft a report on ways to improve the National Sport School.

The report found that there was a "concentrated effort to hide Bogdanović's incompetence" and the work delivered was actually done by Paul Debattista, one of Caruana's consultants.

Abela immediately ordered that the Bogdanović contract be stopped.

Manuel Mallia

Former Minister Manuel Mallia. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

Lawyer Manuel Mallia switched political allegiances before the 2013 election and was elected to parliament on the Labour ticket.

He was appointed as home affairs minister soon after the election but was forced to resign in December 2014 in the wake of a shooting incident allegedly involving his driver, former police officer Paul Sheehan.

A government-appointed inquiry by three retired judges established that there was an attempt to cover up the shooting incident which also led to the removal of Ray Zammit who at the time was acting police commissioner.

The inquiry found that although Mallia was not directly involved in any cover-up, he had failed to correct an official government statement that falsely said warning shots were fired in the air. It later emerged that the car Sheehan was chasing had been hit by bullets.

Then-prime minister Joseph Muscat asked him to resign but he resisted the request, leading to his removal. 

Barely two years later, Muscat re-appointed Mallia to the Cabinet as competitiveness minister.

Michael Falzon

Minister Michael Falzon. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

In January 2016, then-Planning Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon resigned after the Auditor General found “collusion” between the Land Department and developer Mark Gaffarena in the expropriation of a Valletta property.

The investigation into the expropriation of part of a property in Old Mint Street, Valletta, was initiated after Times of Malta revealed details of the deal in which the government acquired the property, worth €944,500, but Gaffarena received €3.4m: €516,000 in cash and €2.9m in parcels of land.

Gaffarena initiated the deal, chose the parcels of land and was privy to inside information, the Auditor General concluded. “Such collusive action… was in clear breach of the fundamental principles of good governance, transparency and fairness,” the National Audit Office said.

Falzon contested the report’s conclusions in his regard but insisted he did not fear shouldering political responsibility.

Following the 2017 general election, then-prime minister Joseph Muscat appointed him as Family and Social Solidarity minister, a position he still holds today.