Rosianne Cutajar said Tuesday that she had asked to be replaced by another Labour MP on the Council of Europe delegation well before she was put under investigation.

On Monday evening, Deputy Prime Minster Chris Fearne announced that energy minister Miriam Dalli will be replacing Cutajar on the CoE’s Parliamentary Assembly delegation.

The former Parliamentary Secretary is being investigated by the CoE over a conflict of interest complaint. The complaint was filed after she had defended 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech during a Parliamentary debate. It later emerged that she had done business with Fenech, in a case that has been investigated by the Standards Commissioner in Malta.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Cutajar said that, “contrary to the spin that was reported in certain newspapers, I was not removed from the Council of Europe.”

Cutajar said that she had asked to be replaced several months ago, before the complaint against her was filed.

“Now that a substitute has been found, a motion was put forward in Parliament to make my request [for a substitution] official.”

Cutajar said this does not mean that she will not defend herself against “allegations and doubts that are being fed to the friends of Jason Azzopardi and the PN in Europe.”

Around two weeks ago, Cutajar was given a second and final chance to appear before the Council of Europe to answer questions on alleged breach of MPs’ ethics. This after she had failed to show up in person for a grilling by MPs.

The PN said on Monday that Cutajar was removed from the delegation after the CoE’s Rules Committee indicated it would take action against Cutajar next month. It said that PM Robert Abela kept Cutajar as Malta’s representative on the parliamentary assembly for six months in spite of her facing an investigation into an alleged breach of the code of ethics.

The PN said that the change was done in secret and this was to protect Cutajar, rather than Malta’s interests.