Robert Abela has sought to distance himself from a scandal involving minister Clayton Bartolo and his wife Amanda Muscat, saying he was the one who decided to terminate Muscat’s job.
In comments outside parliament on Monday morning, the prime minister however defended his decision to stand by Bartolo and fellow minister Clint Camilleri, who were both found to have abused their power by parliament's standards commissioner.
Abela said last week he had no intention to sack the two ministers, who were both found to have abused their power in providing Muscat with a €68,000-a-year consultancy job while she did secretarial work.
Muscat, who originally was Bartolo’s personal secretary, was made a person of trust with Bartolo – at the time her boyfriend - before being transferred to Camilleri’s Gozo Ministry. But standards commissioner Joseph Azzopardi found that the transfer was effectively a fictitious one, as Muscat continued to do secretarial work for the tourism ministry while being paid as one of Camilleri’s persons of trust.
On Monday, the prime minister said that it would now be up to parliament’s standards committee to decide how best to sanction the ministers. The committee is controlled by Abela’s government, through the Speaker's casting vote.
He however reiterated that, in his view, the two ministers do not deserve to get sacked over the matter.
Abela emphasized that Muscat no longer worked for the government.
“I decided to terminate her job, I didn’t wait for a standards commissioner’s report,” Abela said. “This predates the 2022 election. Amanda Muscat hasn’t worked with the government since then,” he said.
"I decided things shouldn't be 'business as usual' three years ago, when I took that decision [to sack Muscat]. Perhaps some people didn't understand the decision at the time. But now I say thank God I took it when I did."
The prime minister sought to downplay the scandal by insisting Muscat had worked the hours she was contracted to do so.
“This is not the case of someone not showing up for work. She did all her working hours,” he said.
He also dismissed concerns about legal action started by a sacked police officer on Monday.
Former superintendent Maurice Curmi is saying he was treated in a discriminatory way because while he was fired for ethical breaches, ministers Bartolo and Camilleri were allowed off the hook with an apology.
Abela said Curmi and his lawyer, former PN MP Jason Azzopardi, were “the last people who should have anything to say about ethics.”
Grech hammers Abela
Earlier in parliament, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech hammered the prime minister over his weak handling of the ongoing scandal.
Abela was trying to sweep the matter under the carpet, Grech said, and try and convince people that there was “nothing to see here.” But citizens could see right through that ruse, he said.
It would take a police officer or teacher three years to earn what Muscat was paid in one year, he said. People, especially Gozitans, were disgusted by the scandal and now even Labour proponents were openly criticising the two ministers and Abela's handling of the issue, Grech said.