Last week, Standards Commissioner Joseph Camilleri published the report of an investigation that began in 2022 on the request of independent politician Arnold Cassola into the government’s employment of Bartolo’s then-girlfriend (now wife) Amanda Muscat.

Joseph Camilleri found that Bartolo promoted Muscat from private secretary to policy consultant at his own ministry, on a €62,000 salary, despite her lack of specialised knowledge or qualifications.

She was later moved to a policy consultant at Camilleri’s Gozo Ministry with an even higher salary of €68,000 but continued working as Bartolo’s private secretary. Her job there lasted eight months and her contract was terminated at the end of 2021.

Abela maintained that this situation is different to that of Justyne Caruana who stepped down in 2020 after the then Standards Commissioner similarly found that she breached ethics by awarding her partner an abusive contract.

Abela argued that Muscat worked her full hours and that the controversy lay in the transition from her role as a private secretary to that of a consultant as well as a €16,000 discrepancy in her pay. He even said that the Standards Commissioner confirmed that this was “not a phantom job”.

He would not answer whether Muscat should reimburse the money but did emphasise that he terminated her contract in 2021.

The Opposition Party has organised a protest on Monday urging for the resignation of the two ministers with PN leader Bernard Grech saying this has not yet happened because they are all involved in an “evil pact”.

Grech seems to be convinced of this, arguing that Abela would not have terminated her contract if he really believed she was doing her job.

Do you think the ministers should resign?