Parliament is under pressure to publish a damning report in which two ministers have been found in breach of ethics over the transfer of Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo's secretary, whom he later married. 

The Parliament’s committee for standards in public life has been handed a report about the matter by standards czar Joseph Azzopardi, who investigated a complaint made by independent politician Arnold Cassola. 

It followed a story by The Shift that reported Amanda Muscat's workplace arrangements. 

Muscat, who is now Bartolo's wife, was transferred to the Gozo ministry, but reportedly rarely turned up for work there. 

Clayton Bartolo with Amanda Muscat on their wedding day. Photo: Facebook

Cassola requested an ethics investigation to look into whether there had been any nepotism involved in Muscat's transfer, to investigate whether Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri was allowing people to be employed at his ministry without having to turn up to work and whether there was any other breach of ethics on the part of both ministers. 

The standards commissioners' report has not been made public, but the fact that it has been referred to the committee is a sign that evidence of misconduct on the part of at least one of the two ministers. 

The committee is set to meet this afternoon at 1pm to discuss the report.

In a statement on Thursday, Cassola challenged the committee to publish the report in full.

"Will the parliament committee cover up for a scandal involving Clayton Bartolo's girlfriend?" he said. 

 "Later today we will know if the Parliamentary Committee on Standards will be complicit or not in keeping hidden the Commissioner for Standards' report, drafted following my request for an investigation."

In 2021, a similar investigation into Justyne Caruana forced her to step down as minister for a second time, after the standards commissioner had found she breached ethics when she awarded her close friend Daniel Bogdanovic a €15,000 deal to draft a report. 

The investigation into Caruana found that had abused her power when she gave the contract to Bogdanovic to draft a report that the former footballer was eventually found to not have drafted himself. 

The commissioner had found that there was a concentrated effort by the ministry “to hide Bogdanovic’s incompetence” and that the report was eventually drafted by one of the ministry’s consultants.

It was also recommended that the matter be referred to the police for criminal investigation.