Minister Clayton Bartolo’s chief of staff admits Amanda Muscat’s recruitment had nothing to do with qualifications

John Grima, who in 2020 served as Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo’s Chief of Staff, acknowledged that his Minister’s girlfriend, Amanda Muscat, had no qualifications to be a policy consultant at the Ministry.

While insisting that he had made the final decision on her recruitment, Grima said he was struck by the Minister’s girlfriend’s potential as soon as he met her.

“Amanda struck me the day I first met her,” Grima told Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi. He has since been promoted to Chief Policy Consultant at the same Ministry.

Recalling that he was introduced to Amanda Muscat when she became Clayton Bartolo’s secretary, Grima said he was impressed by her personality.

“I immediately saw great potential in her. It was about more than what she could do. I noticed that she was determined, and that is why I wanted her to become a consultant,” Grima insisted.

Asked to explain why she was given a consultancy job with a salary close to €70,000 when she wasn’t qualified, Grima played down the academic qualifications needed for such a post – just as his minister did when saying qualifications were not the determining factor when appointing people.

He said that many who had academic qualifications did not necessarily fit specific posts.

“Today at University, there is a degree for anything under the sun,” Grima said.

“More than her academic background, I noticed Amanda’s personal qualities, thoughts, ideology, and how she thinks,” Grima insisted.

This statement prompted the Standards Commissioner to comment on Grima’s selection process based on “ideology”.

Pressed to state specific projects or reports that Muscat worked on under his direction, Grima could not remember and insisted that Muscat used to give her advice verbally rather than in writing.

Never referring to Muscat as his Minister’s girlfriend, Grima underlined that it was also his recommendation that Muscat be moved to the Gozo Ministry, increasing her financial package by another €5,000 while never stepping inside the Gozo Ministry.

Her first consultancy contract, worth €62,000, included an extra €15,000 expertise allowance, which increased to 20,000 when she moved to the Gozo Ministry.

Grima told the Commissioner that he had recommended Muscat’s move to Michael Buhagiar, the head of the Gozo Ministry’s Secretariat.

Muscat started working as Clayton Bartolo’s secretary when he was the Parliamentary Secretary for the digital economy. The two began a relationship during that time.

After a few months, she was given a policy consultancy contract worth €62,000, an increase of more than €25,000 over her previous financial package as a secretary.

During the whole time she spent as a policy consultant, both at the Tourism Ministry and at the Gozo Ministry, as a person of trust of Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, Muscat continued performing the role of personal secretary to Minister Bartolo, usually pegged at a much lower salary.

The Standards Commissioner found that both Ministers Bartolo and Grima breached the code of ethics. However, Prime Minister Robert Abela is defending them, insisting that this is not a matter of resignation.

Abela acted differently when MP Rosianne Cutajar and former Minister Justyne Caruana were found guilty by the Standard Commissioner in separate but similar probes.

Ministers Camilleri and Bartolo are two of the Prime Minister’s closest allies.

Thousands gathered in front of parliament yesterday in a protest organised by the Opposition. PN Leader Bernard Grech reiterated the demand for their dismissal.

He reminded the public that this was not an isolated case, referring to the Governor of the Central Bank, Edward Scicluna, who was accused of a criminal offence and refused to resign. The Prime Minister accepted that he stay at home and do nothing while still taking his salary.