Foreign Minister must resign over 'clear abuse of power’, PN says

On Sunday, Carmelo Abela admitted that ministry workers had carried out works on his Zejtun home but insisted that the work was not done during working hours

4 June 2018, 7:07pm

2 min read

The Nationalist Party has insisted that Foreign Minister Carmelo Abela should shoulder political responsibility and resign after it was revealed that government workers had carried out work on his private residence

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The Nationalist Party has called on Foreign minister Carmelo Abela to shoulder political responsibility over works carried out on his Zejtun residence by ministry works.

A report in the Sunday Times of Malta claimed that two employees at the Home Affairs ministry, which Abela was responsible for in the last legislature, had designed and built a wooden structure on the roof of the minister’s home.

The report also stated that the work had been carried out during working hours, a claim that was denied by the minister.

“In other countries, cases similar to that of minister Abela bring about a resignation or dismissal,” the PN said in a statement, adding a similar case was partly the reason for former South African president Jacob Zuma’s resignation back in February.

It accused Abela of tarnishing Malta’s reputation by refusing to shoulder responsibility for his actions, in the face of “clear facts”.

“Government employees are paid from the people’s taxes u are there to offer a service to the public and not to carry out private work for the minister,” the PN said. “When minister Abela wants work carried out in his home, he should pay for it himself, like ordinary people do, and should not get others to pay for it.”

It said that the fact that the “abuse of power” took place during the minister’s time as Home Affairs minister, “when he was meant to be ensuring that others did not do exactly what he was doing”.

Moreover, the PN added that Abela had already been embroiled in another case of abuse of power while he was Home Affairs minister in which the PN said he was found to have interfered in a fraud investigation.