A damning ethics report concerning Education Minister Justyne Caruana was published on Tuesday morning.
The 89-page report, including supporting documents, is available for download on the website of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life.
You can also read the report by clicking the links below.
Attached files
Compiled by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler, the report was handed to Speaker Anġlu Farrugia on Friday and parliament's standards committee agreed to publish it during a meeting on Tuesday morning.
It looks into Caruana's decision to hand her close friend Daniel Bogdanovic a three month, €5,000-a-month contract to draft a report.
Hyzler found that Bogdanovic did not even write the report himself and then repeatedly lied about it when questioned. The commissioner described a “concerted effort to hide Bogdanovic’s incompetence” and concluded that the report was in reality drafted by one of Caruana’s consultants, Paul Debattista.
The commissioner concluded that the affair was an abuse of ministerial power and said MPs should consider referring the matter to the police for criminal investigation for a potential violation of articles 124 and 125 of Malta's criminal code.
Those articles concern public officials taking a private interest in issuing orders or handing out contracts, and carry jail terms of up to six months for anyone convicted of breaching them.
The Opposition has called for Caruana to be kicked out of Labour’s parliamentary group.
Caruana has yet to comment about the report.