Robert Abela told parliament that Michelle Muscat was given a state-funded car but no drivers. In fact two civil servants seconded to Michelle Muscat's NGOs alternated on a day-in day-out basis to drive that car given to Michelle Muscat.  The two civil servants testified that their day started with collecting Michelle's car from her residence in Burmarrad, driving it around and then returning it to Michelle's garage at night.  Yet bizarrely they claimed they weren't Michelle's personal drivers.

A "concerned citizen" sent an anonymous letter to Arnold Cassola revealing the names of those two drivers - Aldo Zerafa and Carmel Vella with their respective ID cards. That "concerned citizen" exposed their day-in day-out schedule as Michelle Muscat's drivers despite the fact they should have been working on a daily basis. That "concerned citizen" felt spurred to make those revelations "because the Prime Minister lied about Mrs Michelle Muscat that she has no drivers, just the car only".

Cassola asked the Standards Commissioner to investigate whether Abela misled the public when he claimed Michelle Muscat had no state-funded drivers. The Standards Commissioner quickly washed his hands. That's not my job, Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi replied, that falls under Mr Speaker Anglu Farrugia's jurisdiction. "This Office", the Commissioner's report read "cannot investigate the reply given to Parliament by the Prime Minister".

Cassola also asked the Commissioner to investigate whether Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle abused of their position when Michelle was provided with two state-funded drivers. The Commissioner washed his hands of that too. "Dr Muscat and Mrs Muscat are not MPs and neither are they persons of trust and therefore cannot be investigated".

But the Commissioner did investigate whether Michelle's NGOs received preferential treatment from the OPM's People and Standards Division. His conclusion was categorical - "These two entities (Michelle's Marigold Foundation and the National Alliance for Rare Diseases) were being given preferential treatment".  Even Commissioner Azzopardi had to reach that conclusion. The abuse was rampant.

According to government rules only one civil servant can be seconded to each NGO except in truly exceptional circumstances. Yet Muscat's Marigold foundation was given two and her National Alliance for Rare Diseases, three seconded civil servants simultaneously. 

The rules stated that in the exceptional situation where more than one civil servant was seconded to a single NGO a special agreement had to be signed with the OPM's People and Standards Division. In the case of the Marigold foundation that agreement was only drawn up 22 months after those civil servants were seconded. The National Alliance for Rare Diseases had three civil servants seconded and no agreement was signed until months later.

Those civil servants were moved to Michelle's NGOs despite objections by their respective superiors. Alexia Gatt Spearing was released to the Marigold foundation from her job at ITS without a replacement despite the demand by the ITS Chief Executive that she should be replaced before being transferred.  Permanent Secretary Joyce Cassar intervened directly to secure that release, badgering the ITS chief executive and obtaining Gatt Spearing's release that same day.

Anna Mangion was still on probation at the VAT department when a request was made for her to be released to Muscat's National Alliance for Rare Diseases. The Tax Commissioner objected to Mangion's release insisting he needed a replacement. Yet his objections were ignored and Mangion was transferred to Michelle's NGO without a replacement.  An OPM official commented in an email "a replacement for her will be found in the longer term".

Donna Darmanin was employed with the Health Ministry when a request was made for her to be released to the National Alliance.  The Ministry rejected the request since Darmanin had benefitted from a scholarship to study abroad and was bound to work in the government service for 5 years.   Yet the Principal Permanent Secretary intervened and overturned that decision, releasing Darmanin to join Michelle's NGO anyway.

Glenn Micallef, another civil servant seconded to the Marigold foundation was found to have been working instead with the National Alliance and was involved in "internal activities of employees of the National Alliance that were not related to the aims of that organisation".

Government rules only allow civil servants on a maximum salary scale 6 to be seconded to voluntary organisations and anybody on a higher pay scale seconded would only be paid at salary scale 6. Yet Natasha Deguara, another civil servant seconded to the Marigold foundation was paid

at a higher pay scale with the approval of the OPM's People and Standards Division in breach of the rules.

No wonder the Standards Commissioner concluded that "without doubt, there were occasions when the rules on the release of civil servants were not followed in relation to the Marigold Foundation and the National Alliance for Rare Diseases". The Commissioner commented that "it is preoccupying" that the OPM carried out no verification of Michelle Muscat's claims that her NGOs needed more civil servants.

The Standards Commissioner warned the Prime Minister - "...as the minister responsible for the People and Standards Division (he) should see that the Division does not act in a preferential way from now on and that the officials in the Division are not subjected to inappropriate pressure in the execution of their duties". The Prime Minister "is obliged to protect officials under his responsibility as soon as he becomes aware that they found themselves in such a situation, wherever that pressure comes from".

At least we know the truth now. The OPM bent over backwards and broke all the rules to accommodate Michelle Muscat's repeated demands which were acceded to within 24 hours. Officials in the People and Standards Division were subjected to undue pressure to satisfy Michelle Muscat.  Civil servants were pulled out of their departments without replacement and against the wishes of their superiors simply because Michelle wanted them at her NGOs. Permanent Secretary Joyce Cassar was at Michelle's beck and call dealing with Michelle's demands personally and as a priority.

Robert Abela should have and must have known about all this. He must have known civil servants were seconded to Michelle's NGOs and were driving her car from morning to night. Yet he stood in parliament and told the country that Michelle had no state-funded drivers.

How much longer can Robert Abela be held to ransom by Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle? When will Abela finally settle his obligation towards Michelle for making him party leader and Prime Minister?