Prime Minister Robert Abela has handed the equality and reforms portfolio previously held by Rosianne Cutajar to Owen Bonnici, the government announced on Monday afternoon.

The move confirms that Cutajar has been shown the door by Abela from Cabinet, and will not be retaking her place after Standards Commissioner George Hyzler found that she had breached ethics in a case related to a property deal.

The government had already announced that Cutajar’s resignation last February pending a Standards Commission investigation into a property deal she was involved in with Yorgen Fenech would remain in force.

Her resignation last February was said to be temporary and the government did not say in its Monday morning statement that her resignation had been converted to a permanent one – however the news that Cutajar’s portfolio has been shifted to someone else seems to confirm this.

Bonnici will therefore now be the Minister responsible for Equality, Research, and Innovation besides also remaining responsible for the coordination of the country’s post-Covid-19 strategy.

The Justice Ministry meanwhile – under which Cutajar’s portfolio fell – will no longer include the Equality moniker within its official name.

It means that a number of significantly important reforms which the government has been unveiling in recent months, such as those to cannabis laws and prostitution, will now fall under Bonnici’s remit.

On his Facebook page minutes after the announcement, Bonnici said that this is an opportunity to work together with his colleagues for a Malta which is progressive and which has its people at the centre of its work.

He said he will build upon the work which Cutajar had already started and thanked the Prime Minister for his faith in him.

Cutajar lost her portfolio after Standards Commissioner George Hyzler found that she had breached ethics by failing to declare a brokerage fee she had taken on an Mdina property deal which she was involved in with Yorgen Fenech.

It is alleged that she pocketed thousands in brokerage fees and also received cash from the 17 Black owner and Daphne Caruana Galizia murder mastermind suspect.

It was reported that she and her close associate Charles Farrugia 'it-Tikka' had helped broker the Mdina €3.1 million property deal for Fenech. Fenech was trying to purchase the property from a certain Joe Camilleri.

The deal fell through after Fenech's November 2019 arrest and arraignment, and Camilleri is said to be chasing Cutajar to have her return a €46,500 brokerage fee he had paid her. Cutajar reportedly received a further €9,000 in cash from Fenech, while Farrugia received €31,000.

Cutajar has hit out at Hyzler’s report, saying that it is unjust and contains a lot of “double standards”, but the Prime Minister has seemingly taken a more dim view of the matter – choosing to act on Cutajar’s Cabinet post even before the report is adopted by Parliament.