Labour remove Cutajar from Council of Europe assembly after rules breach investigation

The Energy Minister Miriam Dalli has replaced MP Rosianne Cutajar on the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly.

Cutajar has been invited to be heard before the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly’s committee on rule of procedures and immunities, for a second time.

She is accused of a breach of the PACE code of conduct for MPs, over her dealings with Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech in her role as a broker for the purchase of an Mdina property valued at €3.1 million.

The PACE is an assembly of national parliaments’ MPs from all member states of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (not the European Parliament in Brussels).

The Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt, a rapporteur PACE on rule of law in Malta, requested the inquiry into Cutajar over statements she made in defence of Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech inside the assembly.

Dalli replaced Cutajar following a motion forwarded in parliament by Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, after parliament resumed from summer recess.

Cutajar has denied receiving money for her role as the broker in the sale of an Mdina home to Yorgen Fenech. But an investigation by the commissioner for the standards of public life is ongoing. She has since resigned her position as parliamentary secretary.