Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar has no alternative route than to resign, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday after a report by the Standards Commissioner.
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia has called an emergency meeting of the committee for standards in public life for Monday morning to discuss the claims that Cutajar brokered a property deal for Yorgen Fenech and pocketed more than €46,000. She did not declare that income in her declaration of assets.
During a radio interview broadcast on NET FM, Grech said that the “only honourable route left for Cutajar was to resign” and that Prime Minister Robert Abela should step up and shoulder responsibility should she fail to do so.
“We are at this stage where Robert Abela continues to give the impression that the issues of credibility and trust being faced by our country from foreign bodies boils down to a few bad actors in our society who are criminally evading tax,” Grech said.
“This is a puerile way to look at a serious problem, the fact remains that so many things have happened that compounded damage to our country’s reputation, including how Joseph Muscat handled the fallout of the Panama Papers.”
“This is not to mention the numerous scandals involving contracts that went unpublished, direct orders awarded unjustly and NAO reports highlighting serious concerns on major public contracts.”
“The Prime Minister has continually defended sitting and former ministers faced with serious accusations, including the likes of Rosianne Cutajar and Carmelo Abela, both of whom should have resigned pending an investigation,” he continued.
“Instead of committing to catching the big fish of corruption, the government has decided to instead wage war on small businesses.”
“As long as such people remain in their positions, the more we damage our reputations and reinforce the impression that we are not to be taken seriously politically.”
“If Cutajar doesn’t resign, then Robert Abela must sack her and publish the Standards’ Commissioner's report immediately for the sake of transparency," he added.
On the government’s dismissal of a Nationalist Party proposal to convene a taskforce to tackle Malta’s greylisting by the FATF, Grech said Abela was “arrogant” if he thought that he could address the matter without wider consultation.
“Given the circumstances, both in the political responsibility that we feel and the fact that the PN represents a little under half the population, we have to act in wake of the government’s persistent failure on this matter,” he said.
“Greylisitng is a mark that will continue to drag down our reputation internationally and we need to stop and discuss what has brought us here and how we can get back on the right track. This is why I met with the MCESD formally.”
“What emerged from that meeting is how important it is to have real consultation, which the government is not doing,” he continued.
“Wider consultation is important to having a good plan for the country. In the government's absence, the PN feels it should be the one to embolden credibility and it be offering its assistance in the process,” he said.