Claims that Equality Minister Edward Zammit Lewis hired a lawyer in an attempt to curry favour with voters loyal to former minister Chris Cardona have been dismissed by parliament's standards commissioner.
Commissioner George Hyzler found that the lawyer in question, Cheryl Vassallo, had been on the public payroll to work on equality issues for several years before Zammit Lewis took control of the ministry.
Hyzler was investigating a complaint filed by ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo, which was based on an article published by The Shift News on January 7.
The allegation was that Vassallo (née Azzopardi) had been hired as part of Zammit Lewis's plan to win over former Cardona voters. Vassallo's father, Mario Azzopardi, served as Cardona's chief of staff.
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But the standards commissioner found that Vassallo had first been engaged to work on human rights and equality issues in 2016 and had renewed her contract on a yearly basis after that. Her three most recent contracts were signed with the Equality Ministry.
Zammit Lewis was appointed Equality Minister in July 2019 and was only responsible for her most recent contract, which Azzopardi signed in March 2020.
The commissioner noted that Azzopardi's current contract provided the same rate of pay per hour as her previous one and only varied in the maximum amount payable over its 12-month duration.
Hyzler said that while one could question whether Azzopardi should have been handed the job through a direct order, the allegation that Zammit Lewis had hired her to obtain some sort of electoral advantage could not be sustained.
The commissioner dismissed the complaint.