Repubblika wants police to charge Clayton Bartolo, Clint Camilleri with fraud and money laundering

Rule-of-law NGO Repubblika is asking Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa' to charge Clayton Bartolo, Clint Camilleri, and Bartolo's wife Amanda Muscat with fraud and money laundering after a damning standards report that found they abused of public funds.

In a formal complaint, signed by Jason Azzopardi, Repubblika is asking that the two ministers and Muscat are formally charged with misappropriation, fraud, money laundering, embezzlement of public funds as public officials and obtaining money under false pretences. 

The complaint was also sent to the Attorney General.

Clayton Bartolo’s girlfriend, later to become wife, was given an “unjustified” salary increase as a policy consultant, a job she was not qualified for, an ethics investigation shows.

An investigation by the Standards Commissioner revealed that Amanda Muscat was promoted from private secretary to policy consultant at the tourism ministry despite not having specialised knowledge or qualifications to perform the new role.

Muscat was Clayton Bartolo's girlfriend at the time, and is now his wife. Bartolo is the minister for tourism. 

She kept the same role of policy consultant with an even higher expertise allowance when joining the Gozo ministry after her job at the tourism ministry was terminated. The transfer to the Gozo ministry happened after she developed a romantic relationship with Bartolo.

Nonetheless, the investigation found that although Muscat was supposed to be working with and for the Gozo ministry, she continued acting as the tourism minister’s private secretary.