Clayton Bartolo's position as a Member of Parliament is also untenable, long-time Nationalist Party MP Beppe Fenech Adami told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Fenech Adami was contacted for his opinion on the latest scandals and about the merging of the tourism and foreign affairs ministries, following Bartolo's resignation on Tuesday.

"There are two scandals relating to Clayton Bartolo. The first involves the creation of a phantom job for his now wife, where she was paid tens of thousands of euros for not doing the job she was employed for. Now there is this new scandal, which alleges that there was some form of kickback for a contract farmed out by the Malta Tourism Authority, which fell directly under the responsibility of the former minister. Now we are speaking about alleged criminal activity, I would say in both cases, but much more in the second case where it is being alleged that bribes were paid to the now wife of the (now former) minister."

The first scandal revolved around a report published by the Standards Commissioner. Bartolo and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri were found by the Standards Commissioner to have abused their power when Bartolo's then-girlfriend Amanda Muscat was given a job she had no qualifications for, and did not do. The Standards Commissioner found that Muscat, now Bartolo's wife, was first promoted from being Bartolo's personal assistant to his consultant with an increased salary to almost €62,000 and, later, this was upped to €68,000 when she moved to Camilleri's ministry in 2021. The report found that Muscat did not do consultancy work. By and large she continued to work as Bartolo's private secretary, with a consultant's salary, even when she was employed with Camilleri.

The Standards Committee last Wednesday ordered Bartolo to make a personal apology in Parliament over the consultancy job ethics breach, but chose to simply reprimand Camilleri as part of its sanctions. The Nationalist Party has continued to call for the removal of Camilleri from his ministerial post. Muscat has also paid back the excess payments she received but is insisting that she is innocent and is only doing so because she respects institutions. The difference, €16,407.72, is the gap between the salary of a secretary and that of a consultant for the period of time Muscat served as consultant. The PN is arguing that more should be paid back.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday news of a second scandal broke. Bartolo resigned from his post as minister, with the prime minister telling journalists that he was also removed from the Labour Parliamentary Group, following fresh allegations surrounding his wife. In the fresh allegations, Muscat is alleged to have received a €50,000 kickback from an MTA deal, with Prime Minister Abela saying that these new circumstances have led to Bartolo's resignation.

"As far as I am aware, there has not been a reaction on the part of Clayton Bartolo regarding his wife over these latter very serious allegations. If this was a normal country, the least we would expect is a clear explanation and a defense from the former minister regarding these allegations. Moreover, I would expect that the powers that be, in particular the police force, to update the public about the progress of the investigation with regards to this alleged criminal activity."

Fenech Adami mentioned the recent court decision regarding the former CEO of the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS), Joseph Baldacchino, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for three years after being found guilty of embezzling public funds related to the agency. "The public official was found guilty in court of embezzling a couple of hundred euros and, rightly so, he was charged in court, made to resign and was issued a court judgement. Now we have a situation where the wife of a former minister allegedly took a kickback," the PN MP said.

It is evident, he said, that former minister Bartolo's position was untenable as a minister, "and his position as a member of Parliament is, at this stage, also untenable". What people want, he said, is for Malta to become a "normal country". 

Asked whether he has faith in the police commissioner, that an investigation into the alleged kickback will be carried out, the MP said that he judges the police commissioner on his track record. "We have a police commissioner who has a track record of being very harsh with ordinary citizens but continuously defends those close to government. What is being alleged is something punishable by law with years of imprisonment and the least one would expect from the commissioner of police is to inform and assure the public that the police are following up on this case, that the matter is being investigated and that justice will be served. Unfortunately, we all know what the track record of this police commissioner is. We are disappointed with his performance as commissioner."

Following Bartolo's resignation as tourism minister, the tourism ministry was merged with the foreign affairs ministry, under Minister Ian Borg. "Evidently, the decision by the prime minister to amalgamate the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is another instance where the weakness of the prime minister becomes much more manifest," the PN MP said. "We have a situation where after so many years of having a ministry always dedicated to the tourism sector, now we have a situation where such an important economic sector, the tourism industry, has been relegated to forming part of a much larger ministry, that of foreign affairs. This is a disservice to this economic sector. On another level, it also shows that Robert Abela finds himself alone and does not trust any members of his Parliamentary Group to become part of his Cabinet. There are a number of MPs who could potentially become ministers, however, he has decided to avoid such a situation, indicating once again how weak he is in this delicate situation."

Regarding the government in general, Fenech Adami said that it is made up of a number of inexperienced ministers who "have lost the plot, and do not have the energy".

"There are ministers who are ineffectual in the areas they cover. There are some ministers where it is difficult to understand what they are actually doing in what should have been their portfolio. I'll mention Clayton Bartolo who just resigned, whose tenure was marred by serious issues, such as how the film commission operates." 

He said that there is anger among the people at the evolving situation, "where the government seems to be so detached from what the people are feeling, led by a prime minister who is not able to take a strong position on many matters, including matters regarding good governance as seen in this case". He explained his statement, that Prime Minister Robert Abela "flip-flopped" over the past weeks, first "trying to defend the indefensible, and then having had to give in to the public outcry over Clayton Bartolo. Now, he is trying to avert a similair situation with regards to the Gozo Minister (Clint Camilleri)."

As for his opinion regarding the lack of action by the prime minister against Camilleri, given the reason for Bartolo's resignation had to do with the kickback allegations and not the consultancy job scandal, Fenech Adami said: "The prime minister is, in a dishonest way, trying to use the second incident with regards to Bartolo to try and exonerate Camilleri." Fenech Adami said that Camilleri, however, "was part and parcel of this disgusting manoeuvre of creating a phantom job for the wife of his colleague".

Regarding the Standard Committee's decision to only reprimand the Gozo Minister, Fenech Adami said that it was not a unanimous decision, highlighting that the decision was taken through the votes of the two government MPs and the Speaker of the House. "This is the situation we have in this country, where there is outrage among the people who are angry about what is happening, but Robert Abela instructs his MPs on the committee to take the wrong decision to stick by Camilleri against the will of the people. That says a lot about the prime minister who has lost the plot."

Repubblika had called for an investigation into Malta's new European commissioner Glenn Micallef tied to the ethics breach involving ministers Bartolo and Camilleri. Asked about this, Fenech Adami said that "everyone should answer for the decisions they have taken. Micallef was part of the Office of the Prime Minister structure, and from the Standards Commissioner's report it results that the go-ahead for the employment of Amanda Muscat (Bartolo's wife) within the Gozo Ministry had been given from Castille. I think that it is the duty of the powers that be to examine who was involved in this big scam of creating this lie, that she worked as a consultant for the Gozo Ministry. Everyone who had a finger in the pie, in this mess, has to answer for their actions."