The former Minister for Tourism, Clayton Bartolo, gave his apology to Parliament over the ethics breach involving his wife, Amanda Muscat, on Monday evening.

He had been ordered to do so by Parliament's Standards Committee back in November.

Bartolo, as well as Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, had been 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 had then 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. Muscat has also paid back the excess payments she received but had insisted that she is innocent and was only doing so because she respects institutions. The excess payments, €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 was at the time arguing that more should be paid back.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Bartolo said that he disagrees with the Standard Commissioner's findings regarding the ethics breach, though he gave his apology out of respect towards him and his work, as well as the Standards Committee that decided this fate.

"I have remained consistent, that I will respect whatever the decision is by this Committee, and that's what I am doing," Bartolo said. "I offered to make this apology in the sincerest manner, even though I disagree with the Standards Commissioner's findings, because I respect his work."

As Bartolo read out his written apology, he sustained that "at no point were the words 'fraud' or 'phantom job' uttered in the Standards Commissioner's report" and that if such was the case, the former Minister would have been reported to the authorities to face harsher consequences.

The independent MP also denounced how this situation "deteriorated into personal attacks" against his family - including his wife, Amanda Muscat. Additionally, he publicized his hopes that no one passes through a similar experience in the future, and that political discussions do not stoop to these actions again to whomever is facing a similar light.

While relaying these points to Parliament, the former Tourism Minister mentioned past scandals carried out under past PN administrations, such as the "Art tal-Fekruna scandal" and the BWSC power station, and said that in these cases - which were also handled through Parliamentary committees - no one had carried political responsibility. He said that these cases should have been treated the same, according to an existing court ruling.

While reading out his apology, Clayton Bartolo thanked Prime Minister Robert Abela for entrusting him to be a Parliamentary Secretary within his first cabinet in early 2020, and then being appointed as Minister for Tourism just around 10 months later.

The ex-Minister recounted his work in the tourism sector over his term, referencing the challenges faced by the Covid-19 pandemic, to then helping the Maltese islands get "record-breaking numbers" in 2023 and 2024.

Bartolo spoke about how Malta attracted over three million tourists throughout 2024, during a time when international reports were stating that "tourism hasn't yet recovered" from the global pandemic. He also said that these results helped the Maltese and Gozitan people - directly and indirectly.

Bartolo concluded by stating his commitment to continue being a representative voice for the people within the Parliament's walls.

Bartolo had resigned from his post as minister weeks later over a second scandal, following fresh allegations surrounding his wife. In those allegations, Muscat was alleged to have received a €50,000 kickback from an MTA deal.

After Bartolo concluded his statement in Parliament, Nationalist Party MP Mark Anthony Sammut asked if Clint Camilleri had a similar apology to share, though the Minister of Gozo was not present in the Chamber. Speaker Anġlu Farrugia reminded Sammut that his proposed action was not ordered by the Parliament's Standards Committee.