Repubblika file standards complaints over Silvio Schembri, Rosianne Cutajar

Rule of law NGO Repubblika have written to the Standards Commissioner asking him to investigate whether Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar and Minister Silvio Schembri are in breach of the Code of Ethics.

Repubblika’s complaint against Rosianne Cutajar concerns her failure to list a 2019 consultancy she held at ITS in her parliamentary declaration of assets.

Regarding Silvio Schembri, Repubblika pointed to allegations that Schembri is receiving favours from businessmen who are allowing him to make use of their property as a constituency office.

Last week, independent candidate Arnold Cassola also requested a standards investigation into Silvio Schembri for deploying members of his ministerial secretariat to his constituency office.

His request centred around a parliamentary question put forward by Nationalist MP Rebekah Borg a week earlier, when she asked whether the minister is using government-paid employees to run his constituency office in Luqa.

Also last week, leaked WhatsApp chats between Rosianne Cutajar and Yorgen Fenech indicated that the MP took on a consultancy with ITS.

The chats indicated she felt entitled to this extra government job, arguing that “everyone else is pigging out”.

Despite taking on the consultancy at a €27,000-per-year rate, her parliament declaration makes no mention of this added income.