No ethics breach found after Chris Bonett shared government-funded video on personal page

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life concluded that Chris Bonett did not breach ethical standards by sharing a government-funded video on his personal Facebook page. 

The investigation was triggered by a complaint from Arnold Cassola, who alleged that public funds were misused to produce material for the minister’s personal social media account rather than being disseminated through official channels.

The complaint centered on a 41-second video produced by the Ministry for Transport to announce 400 new daily public transport trips.

The standard czar’s report details that the production of the video cost €2,000 and was financed through public funds. 

While the video appeared on Bonett’s personal Facebook page on April 17, 2025, it was not uploaded to the official ministry page until April 21. The standard czar heard that Bonett’s ministry had distributed the video to media outlets on the morning of April 17. 

In his considerations, Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi noted that the video’s content was purely informative and did not feature Bonett himself or any partisan messaging, which would have violated established guidelines. 

Although the video appeared exclusively on the minister's personal page for several days due to broadcasting delays by television stations over the Easter period, the commissioner ruled that these delays were beyond the minister's control. 

The commissioner recommended that official content should be uploaded to ministry pages before being shared on personal accounts.