Updated August 10 with Repubblika statement
Rosianne Cutajar has rejoined the Labour Party's parliamentary group, more than a year after being forced to resign.
During a Friday afternoon meeting, Labour MPs were informed by the parliamentary group's whip, Naomi Cachia, that Cutajar would be reinstated as a Labour MP.
The decision followed a meeting between Prime Minister Robert Abela and Cutajar at Castille on Friday morning, sources said.
In a Facebook post, Cutajar said she was unanimously approved by the PL's executive to return to the party's parliamentary group.
"My first priority will be to bring back the people who showed they were distancing themselves from us and are hurt for some reason," she said.
“From today, back within the Labour family that I never abandoned and continued to love with all my heart. I look forward to using all my energy together with my friends to design and implement a policy that addresses the realities, concerns and aspirations of the Maltese and Gozitans.”
The return became official when the party executive officially gave Cutajar the green light on Friday evening.
Cutajar resigned from the PL parliamentary group after succumbing to pressure following the publication of hundreds of messages between her and Yorgen Fenech.
Complained about being left out of cabinet, she told Fenech: “Now I’ve stopped giving a damn... I’ll become a consultant with Pierre of ITS, and pocket another wage.”
Cutajar then added: “I don’t care, everybody pigs out.”
In 2020 Cutajar resigned her post from parliamentary secretary, pending the outcome of an investigation by the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life. The National Audit Office later found her ITS job was fraudulent and irregular.
The former Qormi mayor remains popular in her constituency.
In January, Abela said Cutajar had paid a high enough political price and that it was time to "reconsider" her position, but later added that she would need to apologise before being allowed back into the party.
She has never made a public apology and it remains unclear whether Cutajar apologised to the prime minister or the party before Friday's decision.
Requests for comment sent to Cutajar have gone unanswered.
In a statement on Friday evening, the PL confirmed Cutajar will once again form part of the Labour Parliamentary Group.
In a statement, the PN accused the Prime Minister of making another "U-turn" by welcoming Cutajar back.
The PN statement read: "After stating that she needed to apologise to rejoin the Labour Party, Robert Abela, due to his weakness, gave in and allowed Rosianne Cutajar back into the party."
Her return was also criticised by rule-of-law NGO Repubblika, which described it as "another obscene example of how those close to power can do as they please, while the rest of us must pay for our mistakes."
Cutajar, the NGO said, had been allowed back into Labour without making the apology to citizens which Abela had initially demanded of her.
The decision comes amid a number of personnel changes at Labour, months after it lost its super majority in the European Parliament elections.
Leonard McKay was appoined the party's new CEO after Randolph De Battista quit the role for unspecified reasons.