Watch: ‘She Sent Loads Of Emails’ – Abela Denies Minister’s Wife Was Given A Phantom Job
Prime Minister Robert Abela won’t take any action against ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri over a job controversy involving Bartolo’s wife.
In comments to TVM, Abela said that Bartolo’s girlfriend (later wife) Amanda Muscat didn’t have a phantom job.
“The Standards Commissioner excluded this, confirmed that she worked and referred to a large volume of emails she sent,” he said.
“The issue isn’t whether she worked her hours or not, only whether she was carrying out functions in line with her job title.”
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Muscat’s role of policy consultant at the Tourism Ministry entitled her to a €62,000 salary, which increased to €68,000 when she moved to Camilleri’s Gozo Ministry for eight months. Standards Commissioner Joseph Camilleri found that Muscat continued working as Bartolo’s private secretary despite her job change and that she wasn’t involved in actual policy decision-making as her role required her to be.
Abela said he considers Bartolo’s apology to be enough and won’t remove him or Camilleri from their Cabinet positions.
He also had harsh words for Repubblika, who reported the two ministers to the police for fraud.
“If the Standards Commissioner thought a crime had been committed, he could have referred the case to the police himself, but he didn’t do so,” he said.
“The PN is strategically using Repubblika to destroy ministers on a personal level, and these intimidatory tactics are unacceptable in politics.”
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