Breach of ethics report: Carmelo Abela to wait for committee’s conclusions before making statements

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela will wait for the Parliamentary Standards Committee’s conclusions before making any declarations on a report which found him in breach of ethics, he said in a Facebook post.

The Standards Commissioner, George Hyzler, had declared that the minister had breached parliamentary ethics. The Commissioner’s report found that Abela had used just over €7,000 in public funds in order to fund advertising which was intended on boosting his own political profile rather than providing any information of value to the public.

The report was then sent to the Standards Committee in Parliament, which will decide what action, if any, to take, and whether it agrees with the report’s conclusions.

In a Facebook post on Friday, the minister said that as a government minister he is obliged to keep the public informed of his ministry’s work, as well as communicating with the public about how one can benefit from the government’s work.

“Until today, there are no guidelines on how this can and cannot be done. The report penned by Hyzler is not the end of the process. In fact the report will be discussed in the Parliamentary Standards Committee. With respect towards the Office of the Commissioner and the Parliamentary process, I will wait until the conclusions of the Parliamentary committee before making any more declarations about this case.”

Meanwhile, candidates for the Nationalist Party have called for the resignation of Minister Carmelo Abela.

Candidate Jerome Caruana Cilia said that the Prime Minister has adopted double standards with his MPs – saying that the PM had said that he would take action against Rosianne Cutajar after the Standards Commissioner concludes an investigation into allegations concerning her, but he has yet to take action against Carmelo Abela.

He also said that the money spent by Carmelo Abela as part of the advertising campaign should be returned.

Fellow candidate Graziella Attard Previ said that the report was yet another scandal involving the government, noting that the country and the people deserve better.