Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has remained silent on an abuse by one of his ministers who admitted having made use of government employees to carry out works at his residence.
Asked yesterday if it was acceptable that Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela used government employees to construct a wooden verandah on the roof of his home, Dr Muscat said that he had nothing to add to the minister’s statement.
The Sunday Times of Malta has reported that in 2015, when Mr Abela was interior minister, at least two workmen from his ministry constructed a wooden verandah at his home in Żejtun during a time when they should have been on government duties.
The minister later issued a statement admitting that this was the case.
However, he said that he didn’t instruct the workers to carry out the work during their normal working hours and that “from what he could confirm”, the installation had been made on a Saturday.
There is no doubt that the only decent thing to do for Minister @AbelaCarmelo is to resign. His only saving grace is that @JosephMuscat_JM cannot kick him out because he has closed his eyes to much worse. https://t.co/mmjmthg3bJ
— Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) June 4, 2018
When confronted with the story last Saturday, Mr Abela, visibly uncomfortable, refused to be recorded and insisted that he did not know who carried out the works at his house. Pressed to say who had ordered the work and who from his household accompanied the government employees to do the works, the minister said that he did not know and had to check.
The Times of Malta yesterday asked the Office of the Prime Minister whether Dr Muscat had asked Mr Abela for an explanation and also if he was ready to order an independent inquiry in the whole affair.
No reply was received.
Mr Abela has so far refused to show this newspaper a copy of the fiscal receipts related to the payment he said he made for the works carried out by his office’s public employees.
The Times of Malta is informed that the coordination of works at the minister’s residence was handled by Mr Abela’s wife, Melanie.
This newspaper is also informed that there were other occasions when employees from the minister’s office were sent to his residence in Żejtun to conduct jobs.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party yesterday called on Mr Abela to shoulder political responsibility and asked for his resignation or removal from the Cabinet.
This was a serious matter and he should be decent enough to stop tarnishing the country’s reputation, the PN said.