Rosianne Cutajar to head health committee, just two months after ethics reprimand

Two months after being found guilty of an ethics breach, Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar has been appointed head of the parliamentary health committee.

She replaces Labour MP Silvio Grixti, who resigned from parliament in December following a police interrogation linked to an investigation on fraudulent sickness certificates.

Cutajar’s appointment was moved by Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, and no objection was raised by the Opposition.

In December 2020, MaltaToday had revealed how then junior minister for equality Rosianne Cutajar and her political aide are alleged to have received some €100,000 in brokers’ fees for the sale of a €3.1 million Mdina property to Yorgen Fenech – the magnate accused of masterminding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Last November, government and Opposition MPs on the standards committee accepted the conclusions of a report that found Rosianne Cutajar breached ethics when failing to declare income from a property deal for Yorgen Fenech.

The adoption of the report’s conclusions came after Standards Commissioner George Hyzler concluded in July that Cutajar breached ethics when she failed to declare brokerage fees she received from the deal in her parliamentary declaration. He also recommended that his findings be passed on to the Tax Commissioner for further investigation.

Testifying before the committee, the MP had insisted sanctions should not be handed down before Tax Commissioner Martin Gaerty concludes his investigation into the case.

“I didn’t know I had to declare gifts,” she said.

She also insisted she never received gifts to help anyone politically.

Following the report, Cutajar was removed from cabinet and remained MP.