The Nationalist Party has called on the prime minister to remove minister Carmelo Abela following a report by the Standards Commissioner that found him guilty of ethical breaches. 

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, election candidates Graziella Attard Previ, Jerome Caruana Cilia and Justin Schembri said Prime Minister Robert Abela should act immediately in the wake of the report. 

Adverts featuring Carmelo Abela published in print media last year did not provide “information of value” to the public and were intended to boost the minister’s image, the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life found. The minister was therefore in breach of ethics. 

“Every cent should be given back. These are taxpayer funds and especially at this time when so many people are struggling,” candidate Jerome Caruana Cilia said. 

He said the PN was ready to be the "alternative voice" and will ensure politicians are no longer involved in such scandals.

Abela, who is a minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, was reported by civil society NGO Repubblika to the commissioner over advertisements that appeared in national newspapers. 

The adverts, which depicted Abela accompanied by slogans, did not provide readers with essential information and did not fulfil the criteria for a pre-established budgetary provision, effectively serving as public relations for the MP at taxpayers' expense, the NGO had said. 

The report found the campaign cost the taxpayer just over €7,000.

Attard Previ said the report is yet another one in a series of scandals involving the government and its people and Malta deserved better.

The trio demanded the prime minister takes action against Abela and remove him from his post at once. 

Meanwhile, asked about the future of PN MP Toni Bezzina, who was interrogated by the police on Monday over alleged corruption, the candidates would not comment. 

Instead, they said the PN had "higher standards" and that leader Bernard Grech had made his position on the matter clear.

Grech has claimed that his MPs are possibly "being targeted", questioning the timing of the investigation into Bezzina's nine-year-old case as a general election looms.