He took the brunt for Amanda Muscat’s recruitment to defend the minister, but John Grima now rewarded with MTA job

The policy adviser to sacked tourism minister Clayton Bartolo has been given a new job at the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA).

John Grima took the blame for the recruitment of Bartolo’s wife, Amanda Muscat, and lost his job as policy adviser last November after Bartolo was sacked.

Yet Grima has now been recruited by the CEO of the MTA, which falls under the responsibility of the tourism ministry for which he was responsible.

Contacted by The Shift, MTA CEO Carlo Micallef confirmed that Grima was now working as his part-time assistant, where he is paid €35 an hour. He didn’t specify the details of the job.

Grima also confirmed his new job at the government’s tourism authority. He told The Shift that he had served at the tourism ministry since 2020 and gained vast experience in the sector. He said he was offering his services to the MTA on a contract-for-service basis.

Grima claimed he had gained experience in various private-sector tourism-related jobs even before his recruitment as Bartolo’s person of trust.

His LinkedIn profile lists him as marketing manager at Pavi supermarkets until 2011 and then as the owner of InMedia Marketing, a small company based in Żebbuġ.

While Grima told The Shift he was providing consulting services to the MTA, his contract describes his new role as “assistant in the CEO office” with no specific assignment.

Grima served as Minister Clayton Bartolo’s Chief of Staff between 2020 and 2022. Then, he was given a full-time consultancy contract at the same ministry, which paid him some €70,000 a year.

During the Standards Commission probe on Bartolo and his wife, which led to his minister’s resignation, Grima protected the minister from any blame for the recruitment of his girlfriend, Amanda Muscat, as a consultant without any qualifications.

Despite having no authority to recruit persons of trust, he insisted with the Commissioner that he was fully responsible for the minister’s girlfriend becoming a consultant.

The two got married in a lavish wedding in June 2024, an event that made headlines for all the wrong reasons, including claims that the ceremony used service providers linked to an event by the Film Commission, that fell under his responsibility.

When asked by the Standards Commissioner to explain why Amanda Muscat was given a consultancy job with a salary close to €70,000 when she did not have the necessary qualifications, Grima said, “Many who had academic qualifications did not necessarily fit specific posts.”

“Today, at the 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.”

This statement prompted the Standards Commissioner to comment on Grima’s selection process based on “ideology” or, rather, a partisan commitment to the Labour Party.

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.