The Opposition should amend its parliamentary motion on Rosianne Cutajar’s consultancy with the Institute of Tourism Studies to look into whether PN MPs turn up for their government jobs, Labour Whip Andy Ellul has said. 

“I think the PN will have to amend its motion to see if its deputies attend work, what time they clock in and the time they clock out, and if they’re doing all their hours,” he said. If needed, the motion can ask those MPs to pay back what is due, Ellul said. 

The Auditor-General reported last week that the way Cutajar, then a Labour MP, had been given her ITS job was “fraudulent”, “irregular” and “in breach of all policies and procedures”. Doubts were raised on whether she actually did any work in her role.

The Opposition subsequently gave notice of a motion in parliament demanding that Cutajar, now an independent MP, return the money she was given during the time she was under contract with the Institute of Tourism Studies. 

Ellul was asked how the PL parliamentary group would vote on the Opposition's motion.

He did not give a direct reply, but said it would be wise for the opposition leader Bernard Grech to amend his motion to see if any of his deputies were breaking any rules regarding public funds. 

In the eight months Cutajar was under contract with the ITS, she had earned a gross income of €19,195 before she resigned when appointed a junior minister.

The damning report published last week said that Cutajar’s 2019 contract was backdated by at least a month, that she was hired to do work she was not competent to do, and that there was very little evidence to suggest she did any work at all.

ITS CEO Pierre Fenech defended his role in handing a government job to Cutajar, saying Cutajar was conducting research for ITS’s strategic plan before Joseph Muscat’s resignation at the end of 2019 put a stop to her work. 

Cutajar insisted she did nothing wrong and that she worked for “every cent” that was paid to her.

Since then, Cutajar has taken to social media asking whether PN MPs were attending their government jobs.  Specifically, she mentioned Claudette Buttigieg, David Agius, and Robert Cutajar. 

Cutajar was forced to quit the PL parliamentary group in April two weeks after hundreds of chats between her and Yorgen Fenech, who is awaiting trial for complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, were published.