BREAKING: Justyne Caruana Resigns As Education Minister
Education Minister Justyne Caruana has tendered her resignation from Education Minister.
In a brief statement this afternoon, the Office of the Prime Minister said Caruana had resigned during a meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela.
Caruana has been facing calls for her resignation for over a week now, ever since the conclusion of an ethics probe by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler.
She was found to have breached ethics by handing a €15,000 contract by direct order to footballer Daniel Bogdanovic, with who she is understood to have had a romantic relationship.
Hyzler’s investigation found that Caruana had “used her discretion in a way that constitutes an abuse of power, and broke with the ministerial code of ethics”.
Caruana had granted Bogdanovic, a former footballer, a three-month contract worth €15,000 to visit government schools and draft recommendations on how to improve the national sports school’s ability to produce elite athletes.
Bogdanovic was an elite athlete in his own right, playing for the likes of Barnsley, Sheffield United and Blackpool in his prime. However, his contract with the Education Ministry raised eyebrows given his lack of pedagogical qualifications and his personal relationship with the Minister.
Bogdanovic did not even author said recommendations, with the report actually being done by one of Caruana’s consultants, Paul Debattista.
Instead, Bogdanovic also served other roles in the ministry, which included technical work, photocopies, taking visitors’ temperature, among other things.
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