Fresh allegations of nepotism emerge in health ministry appointments

The teenage girlfriend of Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela’s nephew has also been appointed to a post at the Gozo General Hospital (GGH) — funded via a government security contract.

The Shift can reveal that Anastasia Cassar, a 19-year-old student from Sannat, Gozo, has recently joined her boyfriend, George Abela, as a clerk at the Gozo hospital.

Abela, the son of Mariella Abela, the Minister’s private secretary and sister-in-law, was revealed by The Shift last week to have secured his role through a contractor — Signal 8. The firm holds a government contract with the Health Ministry, which it uses to place workers at GGH.

Now it has emerged that Cassar, the daughter of Philip Cassar — another trusted aide within Minister Abela’s private secretariat — has also been employed via the same arrangement.

Sources within GGH confirmed that the couple report to the customer care department and are both being remunerated from public funds, despite their employment being formally channelled through a third-party contractor.

Cassar’s appointment adds a further layer to what critics are calling an increasingly clear pattern of nepotism. Not only is she the partner of the Minister’s nephew, but her father serves as Deputy Mayor of Sannat for the Labour Party and is employed full-time within the Minister’s private office under a “person of trust” contract.

Attempts to contact Minister Abela, his private secretary Mariella Abela, and other officials for comment have gone unanswered. The Minister has so far declined to respond to questions about whether these appointments were mere coincidences or warranted by qualifications.

When previously confronted with claims of nepotism surrounding his nephew’s appointment, the Minister accused the media of engaging in character assassination, calling it part of a “coordinated campaign” targeting his family. He insisted that staff hired through third-party contractors were selected independently, in accordance with standard procedures based on merit.

Mariella Abela, who is married to Jo Etienne Abela’s brother, Christian, was among the Minister’s first appointments upon taking office. Considered a key figure in his inner circle, she also serves as the Labour minority leader on the Victoria Local Council.

Asked whether he intended to investigate these latest claims or examine the role played by his close relatives in these appointments, the Minister remained silent.

The use of contractors to place political allies and family members on the public payroll has become an increasingly common practice within government structures. In a similar case reported by The Shift, Environment Minister Miriam Dalli was found to have used the same mechanism to employ Pearl Agius — a former Labour television journalist and campaign aide — at Wasteserv.

It remains unclear how many individuals have been engaged at GGH through similar third-party arrangements, nor how many contracts the Health Ministry currently holds with private HR agencies.

Questions also remain over whether such contracts were awarded through competitive tenders or direct orders.

The Shift understands that additional relatives of Mariella Abela may also be on the government payroll through similar channels, though this has yet to be confirmed.