Justyne Caruana has resigned from her post as Education Minister, the government announced on Wednesday, and will not contest the next general election.

Caruana tendered her resignation to the Prime Minister earlier today, which resignation was accepted.

In its statement, the government did not say whether Caruana had resigned from her post as government MP as well.

Caruana said in a statement on her Facebook page that she had entered politics to serve and that she was never tied to the seat of power, which is why she felt that her resignation was the best decision for the government and the Labour Party.

Despite this however, she contested the report by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler, particularly based on the procedure used, and said that she had filed a case in the civil courts over the report.

Caruana said that despite the fact that she would not be contesting the next general election - something which had not been known previously - this is an important step to defending her reputation and that of her family, and also to see that every institution in the country respects the "basic principles of justice."

Commissioner for Standards in Public Life George Hyzler had found that the awarding of a €15,000 contract to Daniel Bogdanovic by Caruana amounted to an “abuse of power.”

In his report, published after a unanimous decision by the Standards Committee last week, said that Caruana had breached ethics by “giving preferential treatment” to Bogdanovic by giving him a direct order contract which he was “neither qualified nor competent enough to carry out.”

Hyzler also noted that a concerted effort was made for Bogdanovic’s incompetence for the role to be hidden because the work related to the contract was carried out by someone else – Paul Debattista, one of Caruana’s ministry consultants.

This fact, Hyzler said, was purposely hidden in testimony given to him.

Within the report, both Caruana and Bogdanovic denied that they were romantically involved, instead using the term “friendship”, but Hyzler deemed the relationship close enough to constitute a violation of the code of ethics.

Pressure has since mounted on Caruana to resign from her post, and on Prime Minister Robert Abela to remove her if she fails to comply.

It's the second ministerial portfolio which Caruana has lost in less than two years.  She was removed from her position of Gozo Minister in early 2020 - only days after her appointment - after her then-husband Silvio Valletta was found to have had a close relationship with alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech while he was still working with the police as an Assistant Commissioner.

Caruana can still face sanctions for her ethics breach, as the report which found her to have breached these ethics is still being discussed by Parliament's committee on Standards in Public Life.

Government in a state of collapse - PN

In a statement published in reaction to the news, the PN said that the government has continued to collapse.

The party said that Caruana had not resigned because Abela told her to, but that she had only left her position because of the pressure by the Opposition and because of the good work of journalists.

The PN said that this was another case where Robert Abela had decided not to decide, as if it were up to him he would let the parliamentary procedures happen after the holidays. 

“Robert Abela did not take action, he did not remove her himself, not as a minister and not from the parliamentary group,” the party said.

The party said that the case is not closed and that they are expecting the police to follow the standards commissioner’s recommendation for an investigation into this case.

The PN said that the Abela should also take action against the public officials, including the permanent secretary, who approved “this scandal which happened with the theft of people’s money.”

The party said that the indecisiveness of the Prime Minister had resulted in a sector ending up without a minister in the worst time possible. In the middle of a pandemic, the education sector is without direction and educators and students do not know whether they will return to school after the holidays, the PN said.

 

“Instead of a strong pair of hands leading the country, we have a Prime Minister facing resignation after resignation in a government which is collapsing under the weight of scandals and abuses,” the party said.

MUT welcomes resignation

Reacting to the resignation, the Malta Union of Teachers said it was clear from the start that Caruana’s decision to give a contract to a person who is close to her was “wrong.”

George Hyzler’s report confirms that Caruana broke the code of ethics for MPs and, as a result, she did not have the moral authority or the integrity required to lead the Education Ministry. The union welcomed the resignation which, it said, was required for the education sector to move forward after the hiccups caused by appointment of three different ministers over the past two years. It said it is ready to work with Caruana’s successor for the good of the sector.