The Labour Party is offended when the word "fraud" is used.

It feels so insulted that it requested the Speaker of the House of Representatives to find the Opposition in breach of privilege when the Nationalist Party and its MPs used the term in connection with the scandal involving (now former) Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo and his wife Amanda Muscat, and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri. The word "fraud" is not mentioned in the Standards Commissioner's report, they insisted, so it should not be used in reference to what had happened.

The Standards Commissioner had found that Bartolo and Camilleri had breached ethics when a job was given to Muscat without her having the necessary qualifications. She pocketed a higher salary than she deserved, which was increased when she was "moved" to the Gozo Ministry while still serving under Bartolo. She has since returned some of the money.

The Speaker, in his ruling, dismissed the complaint that had been filed by Justice Minister Jonathan Attard and parliamentary secretary Andy Ellul, describing the terminology used as "political bickering". The government's attempt to gag the opposition failed. If anything, it has strengthened the PN's resolve, and it came up with its catchy slogan "Frodi biss, frodi spiss" (Only fraud, frequent fraud).

Instead of being offended, the Labour Party should be ashamed that it has been hit by yet another scandal. In this legislature alone, we have had many of them - the driving licences racket, social benefits to people who were not entitled to them and the ID cards shame are the bigger ones that preceded the Bartolo-Camilleri-Muscat disgrace. And then, of course, there is the three hospitals' deal which earlier this year led to the arraignment of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and three former ministers, Chris Fearne, Konrad Mizzi and Edward Scicluna.

Bartolo resigned in the wake of fresh allegations regarding his wife last Tuesday - 26 November, which was incidentally the same day that, in 2019, then OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and then Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi resigned. Bartolo has also been kicked out of the Labour parliamentary group. We now hope that the Labour Party will not rehabilitate him as it did with Rosianne Cutajar, who had also resigned under pressure from the parliamentary group only to be reintegrated without as much as an apology.

It all means that, for Prime Minister Robert Abela, the fact that Muscat was given a job she was not qualified for with a salary she did not deserve was not enough of a wrongdoing to have both ministers removed. It was only after a second scandal emerged that the PM put his foot down and sought Bartolo's resignation.

Bartolo and Camilleri should both have resigned or been dismissed when the Standards Commissioner's report was published, as Justyne Caruana had done for a similar offence a few years back. That Abela continues to defend Camilleri is not on, and it has prompted the Nationalist Party to up the pressure with another protest to be held in Valletta on Monday.

The weirdness of Parliament's Standards Committee decision is also worthy of note. The committee, made up of two government MPs and two opposition MPs, with the Speaker as chair, chose to order an apology from Bartolo but to only reprimand Camilleri when they were guilty of the same thing - the breach of ethics for giving Muscat the same consultancy job. Why was this distinction made?

The Standards Committee was tackling the Standards Commissioner's report which deals only with the consultancy job given to Amanda Muscat, and not the fresh allegations made about her this past week. So, again, we ask, why did Labour choose to behave differently with Bartolo and Camilleri?

The matter should not stop here. Much more than a resignation, apology and a reprimand are needed if the government is to be believed that it endorses the rule of law. Much more than political responsibility needs to be shouldered.

For one thing, there should be no golden handshake for Bartolo. Ministers who resign in disgrace should not be handed out termination benefits, paid for from public coffers. There should be a difference between ministers who lose their place because the PM does not like them, and others who are forced out by wrongdoing.

What is sure is that the feel-good factor that Abela and Co. wanted to instil with the budget for 2025, tax cuts included, was wiped out quickly by the Bartolo-Camilleri-Muscat saga. Following the unexpected decline in popularity shown in the June elections for the European Parliament and local councils, Abela thought the 2025 budget would turn the tide around again in Labour's favour.

But the positive vibes did not last long as a result of the Standards Commissioner's report on what Bartolo and Camilleri did to favour the former's wife.

It is yet another shameful episode to add to the long list of scandals in the last 11 years.

Those that we know about.