Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar did not list the existence of her “extra” job as an ITS consultant in her mandatory financial declarations to parliament for 2019.

Leaked chats between Cutajar and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech revealed how Cutajar felt entitled to additional income from a government job, seeing that “everyone else is pigging out”.

At the time, ITS fell under the political responsibility of her parliamentary colleague Konrad Mizzi.

Attempts by Times of Malta this week to verify the existence of this consultancy deal failed, as Cutajar’s parliamentary declaration for 2019 made no mention of it.

Shift News has since published a copy of the €27,000-per-year contract, which was signed in May 2019 by ITS CEO Pierre Fenech.

When contacted by Times of Malta, Cutajar argued that she had listed everything that was required of her in the declaration form.

Parliament’s code of ethics clearly states that an MP must list: “his work or profession, and if he is employed, the identity of his employer”.

The parliament form instructs MPs to list their position for the previous year.

The declaration is always backdated, requiring MPs to list their status and financial position for the previous year.

She argued that her income for 2019 was duly indicated in the relevant section of the form.

However, the section referred to by Cutajar only lists her bank balances as at December 2019, with no specific mention of her income from the ITS consultancy.

Her income for 2019 - €74,000 - was listed in a separate declaration that ministers and parliamentary secretaries must make to the cabinet. Again, income derived from the ITS consultancy was not specifically mentioned in the cabinet declaration.

A snippet from Cutajar's cabinet declaration. Journalists are not allowed to take copies of the separate declarations MPs make to parliament.

The cabinet declarations also make no reference to the gifts received by Cutajar from Fenech.

The income from ITS was declared in her tax filings, which are not publicly available. The filings can only be obtained following a formal request to parliament by a registered editor.

Prime Minister Robert Abela defended Cutajar this week, claiming she had already paid the political price for her chats with Fenech.

She was forced to resign from cabinet after an ethics probe found she also failed to declare income from a Mdina property deal she brokered on Fenech’s behalf.

The new chat revelations detail an intense relationship between the pair at a time when Fenech was facing increased scrutiny for being the owner of secret company 17 Black.

While the publication of the private chats has been criticised for breaching the MP's privacy and potentially breaching a court order, they also reveal some important details about potential abuse of power in political life.

Abela's failure to take further action against the MP has led the Opposition to question whether the prime minister is being “blackmailed” by Cutajar.