The Nationalist Party has put up a cheeky banner right outside the block of flats that have been at the centre of a political controversy involving Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

The banner reads “Mit-taxxi taghna lkoll” (From our taxes), a clear reference to the slogan used by the Labour Party before the election, with a gift tag saying “Awguri Varist” (Best wishes, Varist).

It was installed in front of an apartment block in Rabat, which was built by Mr Caruana. The police are investigating the source of money that was used for its construction.

Minister Bartolo has been embroiled in a scandal involving his canvasser Edward Caruana.

A former Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools employee, Mr Caruana, who is being accused of irregularities including bribery, has suspended himself after being transferred to the department of agriculture within the Environment Ministry.

He retained the same wage package, of €36,500 per year, (with adjustments) after he was transferred to the department of agriculture.

Mr Caruana was transferred after former FTS CEO Philip Rizzo announced that he was resigning over irregularities in a school refurbishment procurement process. Mr Rizzo (right) declared that the employment and education minister Evarist Bartolo (left), under which the FTS falls, had done nothing to correct the matter despite it being brought to his attention.

Mr Bartolo vehemently denies that he did nothing to rectify the irregular behaviour of Mr Caruana, previously identified as his personal canvasser during the last general election. Mr Bartolo said that he always acted appropriately with the information he had at the time.

In a statement, the PN said that the minister was caught lying when he spoke about the dates when he learnt about what his canvasser was doing. First he said it was in August, and later he said it was April. The PN said the minister did not do anything about the situation.

In one particular email, it is said that “All Gozo knows what he was up to… someone is going to ask where from during the last 2 years Edward got c400k to build a six apartment block in Rabat," the PN said. The party also asked when the Prime Minister had come to know about all this.

The banner has since been removed.

In a statement, the Labour Party said that Mr Bartolo had passed on information to the police to help in their ingestigations, while Simon Busuttil had failed to take any action when presented with allegations of corruption.