Carmelo Abela Won’t Say If He’ll Refund Taxpayers: ‘Report Is Not Final Step’
OPM Minister Carmelo Abela won’t say whether he’ll refund the €7,000 worth of taxpayer money spent on self-promotion.
Reacting to the damning report by the Standard Commissioner, Abela said it isn’t the final chapter in the saga, and that it is yet to be discussed in the parliamentary committee for standards of public life.
“As a Minister, I’m obliged to showcase what we have achieved and how the public can benefit from it. To this day, there aren’t clear rules on what can and cannot be done,” Abela stressed in an online statement.
Bħala Ministru tal-Gvern jien obbligat li nuri l-ħidma Ministerjali tiegħi, ix-xogħol li nkun qed inwettaq kif ukoll…
Posted by Carmelo Abela on Friday, 16 April 2021
“In all due respect to the Standards Commissioner, I shall await the conclusions of the parliamentary committee before making any further statements on the issue,” he said.
A report by Standards Commissioner George Hyzler published on Wednesday found that Minister Abela misused €7,000 of taxpayer money by spending it on an advertising campaign to boost his self-image ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle.
Hyzler said it was up to the parliamentary committee to deem the remedy but he pointed out that the practice in the UK House of Commons is for misused money to be refunded to the State.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has since pledged to draw up clear guidelines to regulate political advertising, while the PN has urged him to sack the minister.
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