Arnold Cassola asks Standards Commissioner to investigate why Abela gave Muscat free use of office

Independent politician, Arnold Cassola, has written to Standards Commissioner, Joseph Azzopardi, to investigate why free use of an office was given by Prime Minister, Robert Abela, to former Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat.

He made reference to an article in The Shift News. "This states that the Prime Minister, Robert Abela, is allowing former Prime minister, Joseph Muscat, to be given free use of public property (office at Sa Maison), even though Dr. Muscat has declared 500,000 euros in turnover from his consultancies in 2020 alone."

"Dr Abela refused to explain why he lets this to go on." This, he said, is in breach of the Code of Ethics for Ministers, while citing a number of provisions.

"4.4 Ministers shall be, to the widest extent possible, open to providing information to Parliament and to the public in general. 5.3 Diligence - once Ministers administer public property, on behalf of the public in general, they shall exercise the highest level of diligence including in the expenditure of public funds, and they shall also work diligently and hard in the performance of their duties. 5.4 Objectivity - in the performance of public duties, including in the appointments to offices, public procurement, or in the context of any award of benefits. 5.5 Accountability - Ministers administer public property and shall be transparent in their operations and open to necessary scrutiny. 5.6 Transparency - Ministers shall as much as possible perform their duties in an open and transparent manner, and therefore give reasons for their decisions and actions."

"Please investigate why the Prime Minister is giving free use of an office to someone who is earning a fortune in consultancies every year, and is not in public service, and why he does not provide an explanation for this (mis) use of public property."