Abela told to shoulder responsibility for use of government workers for private works

Foreign minister Carmelo Abela has refused to show how he paid government workers who carried out works on his home, during the weekend.

He was answering Nationalist MP Simon Busuttil's questions on whether he could provide a receipt for the works he carried out at his home, and whether he would shoulder political responsibility. Abela said he had already presented receipts for the materials that were acquired to erect an structure at his home.

[WATCH] Foreign minister doesn't outrightly deny that work on Zejtun home wasn't done on government time

The Sunday Times of Malta reported that in 2015, when Abela was interior minister, at least two workmen from his ministry constructed a wooden verandah at his home in Żejtun during a time when they should have been on government duties.

The minister later issued a statement admitting that this was the case.

However, he said that he didn’t instruct the workers to carry out the work during their normal working hours and that “from what he could confirm”, the installation had been made on a Saturday.

Asked whether he categorically denied that the work was done when the workers were supposed to be undertaking their government duties, Abela said that as far as he knew, the structure was installed on a Saturday "which is not a normal workday for this particular worker."

Abela has so far refused to show a copy of the fiscal receipts related to the payment to the workers, who were ministry employees. The STOM said it was informed that there were other occasions when employees from the minister’s office were sent to his residence in Żejtun to conduct jobs.

The Nationalist Party has called on Abela to shoulder political responsibility and asked for his resignation or removal from the Cabinet. "This is a serious matter and he should be decent enough to stop tarnishing the country’s reputation."