Clayton Bartolo's wife probed over €120,000 Fortina payments

Clayton Bartolo’s wife, Amanda Muscat, received over €120,000 in payments from Fortina, with the transactions coming under the scrutiny of a police investigation. 

The former tourism minister and Muscat were both questioned last year about the payments as part of a wider police probe into potential corruption that kicked off in December 2024. 

Times of Malta is informed that concerns have been raised within the attorney general’s office about whether sufficient evidence is in place to support a potential prosecution of the couple, as charges should only be pursued when supported by a sound evidentiary basis. 

Documents seen by Times of Malta note that, during the investigation, the suspects’ electronic devices were not seized and, in certain instances, suspects in the case seemed ready for the questions put to them during interrogations.

Bartolo and Muscat vehemently deny wrongdoing and insist all payments she received were for legitimate work.

Documents indicate Muscat was put on Fortina’s payroll in January 2022, soon after she resigned from a government consultancy job “abusively” given to her by Bartolo and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri. 

Despite receiving a regular taxable salary from Fortina, Muscat’s employment was never registered with the government employment agency JobsPlus, a legal requirement all employers must abide by. 

The payments from Fortina, whose interests span tourism, hospitality and property development, overlapped with Bartolo’s tenure as tourism minister.

According to her employment contract, Muscat was hired as a personal assistant to Fortina’s CEO Edward Zammit Tabona.

She received over €120,000 from the company over a three-year period. 

A Fortina spokesperson told Times of Malta that the company’s records confirm Muscat was at the time “one of approximately 150 employees at Fortina, over a three-year period from 2022 to 2024." 

"Her taxes and national insurance contributions in relation to this employment were paid in full, when and as due throughout her employment. This is fully documented and verifiable”.

“Neither Fortina Investments nor its CEO are being investigated on the matter at hand. Any suggestion to the contrary is prejudicial and unfounded,” the spokesperson said. 

Repayment 

While receiving payments from Fortina, Muscat’s employment records had her listed as a Central Bank of Malta employee, entitling her to certain perks, including a subsidised loan rate.

She continued to benefit from the subsidised loan rate, which she was no longer entitled to after leaving government employment and being put on Fortina’s payroll.

Sources said the central bank was under the impression that Muscat was still on the government payroll after the bank received a secondment request for her services by the Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS).

It, however, transpires that she never actually took up employment with ITS.

Government employees on secondment are entitled to retain certain perks from their original employer, in Muscat’s case the central bank, so long as they remain in government employment.

Times of Malta is informed that, after discovering the arrangement with Fortina, the central bank demanded that Muscat repay around €20,000. Sources said the matter was settled “amicably”, with both parties agreeing on a repayment plan. 

The central bank declined to comment when contacted by Times of Malta.

Bartolo resigned as tourism minister in November 2024, hours before Times of Malta revealed the existence of a report by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) detailing €50,000 worth of suspicious payments his wife received from Italian cyclist Valerio Agnoli.

Investigators suspect the payments were a kickback for a Malta Tourism Authority contract given to Agnoli under Bartolo’s tenure. 

Bartolo and Muscat deny wrongdoing, insisting the payments were for legitimate work she carried out for Agnoli. 

In December, an asset freezing order imposed as part of the police probe was lifted against Bartolo. The freeze against Muscat remains in place pending a decision by the attorney general about whether to prosecute the couple.

The ex-minister, who has spent the past year serving as an independent MP, has already confirmed he intends to seek re-election and hinted that he will run on the Labour Party ticket.