A report into claims that Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar brokered a property deal for Yorgen Fenech is to be discussed in parliament in an urgent session scheduled for Monday morning at 8.30am. 

MPs who form part of parliament’s committee for standards in public life were informed of the Monday morning date on Saturday by Speaker Anglu Farrugia, who chairs the committee. 

The committee will be discussing a report by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler into allegations that Cutajar pocketed more than €46,000 by brokering a 2019 property sale to Fenech and did not declare that income in her declaration of assets. 

According to the law, Hyzler’s office must only refer reports to the parliamentary committee when investigations have concluded that an ethical breach occurred. 

In a statement, Nationalist Party MPs Therese Comodini Cachia and Karol Aquilina said that they expected the report, which was handed to parliamentary speaker Anglu Farrugia on Friday, to be published without delay. 

The two PN MPs form part of the committee that will scrutinise the report. Farrugia chairs the committee and holds a decisive vote, with the government and Opposition both having two representatives each. 

Comodini Cachia and Aquilina noted that on a number of occasions, reports tabled in the committee had been kept under wraps due to “the position adopted by Labour members”. 

Tensions have flared within the committee, most recently in April when the speaker abstained from a vote to adopt recommendations made in a report that was critical of minister Carmelo Abela’s use of taxpayer funds to run self-promoting adverts. 

“We will continue to insist on politicians being held accountable at every moment, not for them to take advantage of the ‘everything goes’ culture that the Labour Party has created over the past eight years,” they said. 
“Robert Abela and the Labour government should start acting to ensure good governance, to ensure our country’s reputation is restored for everyone’s benefit,” they added.