Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli has defended the Prime Minister's decision to retain Cyrus Engerer as a consultant with her ministry in spite of being found guilty of distributing pornography.

Mr Engerer was found guilty of sending 'revenge porn' by email after he sent naked and compromising pictures of his former partner to the latter's workplace. He was initially acquitted for lack of proof but found guilty on appeal. 

Dr Dalli said that PM Muscat did not ask her to remove Mr Engerer from the post and she agreed with this.

She said she did not agree that the crime committed was homophobic as it was just a personal issue between two people.

She had no comments to make on the crime committed. The courts have spoken, she said. Cyrus Engerer has already paid the price for what he did by backing out of the EP Election, Dr Dalli added. 

Mr Engerer withdrew his candidature for the European Parliament election after the court judgment last week. Following that, PM Muscat hailed him as a soldier of steel as the Opposition called for his removal from the post of consultant he has with the Social Dialogue Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry, and from being the chairman of the LGBT council.

 

Government has lost its moral compass - PN

In a statement the PN accused the government of continuing to choose wrong instead of right. The PN said that, very much like the Prime Minsiter, Helena Dalli is showing that she lacks the moral courage to take the right decisions when these involve persons at the core of the PL.

“Dr Dalli does not understand that there is now a direct conflict between the court ruling and Mr Engerer’s job as consultant to the government. The government has lost its moral compass.”  

Joseph Muscat’s ‘champion’ on gay rights has been found guilty of a crime committed against a gay person and his government roles are untenable, said the PN. “Cyrus Engerer is neither a hero nor a victim. He is surely not an ideal consultant on civil rights.”