Karl Cutajar, the 18-year-old who was named director, secretary, legal representative and judicial representative of government-owned Fort Security Services, has resigned his position, Economy Minister Chris Cardona revealed this evening.

The revelation was made after opposition MP Jason Azzopardi asked the minister to state how many companies with full or partial government ownership have been set up since the 2013 general election. Dr Cardona said that the information was still being collected, but a series of supplementary questions followed.

Dr Azzopardi brought up Fort Security Services, before PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami specifically asked how Mr Cutajar - whose uncle is Dr Cardona's chief of staff, Mario Azzopardi - was recruited.

The minister said that Mr Cutajar had sent a letter to Fort Security Services' chairman John Busuttil, thanking him for the opportunity to serve on board, but outlining his wish not to continue serving.

He then addressed opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who apparently chuckled at the news, stating that there was nothing funny about the case, especially since Mr Cutajar said that he was leaving since he was being politically victimised.

Dr Cardona also said that the opposition was hypocritical in criticising Mr Cutajar due to his age whilst claiming that the young should be listened to, even to the extent of criticising the government for not allowing 16-year-olds to vote in the referendum on spring hunting.

He then insisted that when he was about to resign his seat in the European Parliament, Dr Busuttil had no problem with employing two of his assistants at Dar Malta just before the general election.

Dr Busuttil, in his reply, first stressed that the persons concerned were not relatives of his, although he said that he only knew of one former assistant who moved on to Dar Malta, who went through a rigorous selection process.

Mr Cutajar will stay on at MIMCOL, which he joined a year ago, and Dr Cardona emphasised that Mr Cutajar was regularly employed at MIMCOL, on his own merits, as had other young people of a different political persuasion.

He noted that Mr Cutajar was then castigated because he was chosen to form part of a board - without payment - as part of his work.

On the other hand, he said, Dr Busuttil's former assistants earned €80,000 a year each.

Dr Busuttil then stressed that no relatives of his worked at Dar Malta, while the daughter of Finance Minister Edward Scicluna and the cousin of Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg did work there. He also asked how many relatives of Dr Cardona's chief of staff joined the civil service since the general election, although the minister invited him to send the question in writing.

Dr Borg then leapt to the defence of his cousin and his colleague's daughter, pointing out that both joined the civil service when the PN was in government, and were recruited following a public call. He noted that his cousin had previously been posted in Malta House, and that his salary actually decreased when he moved to Brussels.

Dr Fenech Adami then claimed that people from Birkirkara - Dr Cardona's constituency, as well as his own - were being employed to carry out security work at Malta Shipbuilding, and questioned whether Fort Security Services - which was set up to oversee security in government operations which are being wound down, including the shipbuilding site - was simply a vehicle to provide government jobs to constituents.

Dr Cardona highlighted that Fort Security Services employed no one, but Dr Fenech Adami then noted that people providing security at the Malta Shipbuilding site could be heard bragging "in certain Birkirkara clubs" that they were given a job in which they had nothing to do.

The minister then said that those providing security were qualified to do so, and were self-employed, being paid in line employment regulations.