Tourism Minister Allegedly Employed Girlfriend Into Private Secretariat From Central Bank Role
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo’s private-secretary-turned-girlfriend, Amanda Muscat, was employed by the Central Bank of Malta when she was brought into the Cabinet member’s private secretariat, following him from his role as parliamentary secretary to minister.
Prime Minister Robert Abela tried to play down the scandal when facing questions from the press, insisting that Muscat had always been employed by the government.
However, what he failed to mention was that Muscat was previously employed at the Central Bank of Malta, before being brought into the Parliamentary Secretariat for Finacial Services and the Digital Economy, which at the time was headed by Bartolo. At the time, Bartolo was still married to his now-former wife.
Muscat’s Twitter bio still lists her official place of occupation as the Parliamentary Secretariat, which fell under the remit of current Central Bank Governor Edward Scicluna’s Finance Ministry.
It is believed that her role was registered as a position of trust, which is what she was defined as within the Tourism Ministry snd Gozo Ministry.
She even followed Bartolo to the Tourism Ministry when he was appointed to the role by Abela after the Cabinet reshuffle in November 2020.
Well informed sources who work within Central Bank have claimed that Bartolo personally had a hand in employing Muscat in the Parliamentary Secretariat.
Muscat would later be transferred to the Gozo Ministry following an embarrassing incident involving the pair in a bid to avoid a similar scandal to that of disgraced former Education Minister Justyne Caruana and her boyfriend Daniel Bogdanovic.
According to a report by the Shift News, the government’s internal server showed that Muscat was employed as a person of trust within the Gozo Ministry as part of the Strategic and Priorities Unit. That information has since been removed.
Abela has confirmed that she was working at the Ministry up until a few weeks ago, which is around the time journalists began sending questions over the issue.
She has now been removed and according to Abela does not work within the government.
Clayton Bartolo and Amanda Muscat spotted together while he was Parliamentary Secretary in June 2020
The Tourism Ministry and Gozo Ministry had ignored questions sent by Lovin Malta for weeks, only issuing a terse reply that “Muscat does not work within the Gozo Ministry” once warned over imminent publication. The bulk of the questions remain unanswered and include details like Muscat’s remuneration, the date of her transfer, and the reason behind it.
The Central Bank of Malta refused to confirm or deny her employment, citing confidentiality.
Questions sent to the Finance Ministry and Clayton Bartolo were unanswered by the time of publication.
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