20 Labour ministers dumped for scandals, some returned, others still on the gravy train

It’s a routine that’s become so commonplace we’ve almost grown used to it.

A scandal ensues for a high-profile minister. At first, a barrage of denials and accusations of slander. Then, the process of adapting the official response as new revelations come out.

After months of pressure and backpedalling, the offending minister is then dismissed so they can “defend themselves” from whichever scandal finally caught up to them.

More often than not, if there is any window of opportunity for the individual to be reintegrated into the fold, they will eventually resurface in some official capacity.

Two notable examples are Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon and Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo, both of whom resigned from previous Cabinet posts only to be reinstated shortly after.

While Falzon was forced to resign from his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Planning in 2016, Refalo was quietly sidelined after the 2017 general elections, as competition among PL candidates for the coveted Gozo portfolio intensified.

In 2020, Refalo was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture, a portfolio he continues to hold. Falzon has been in charge of the Social Policy Ministry for almost a decade now.

While other former high-profile Cabinet members have faced charges in court over their extensively documented wrongdoing, several of them continue to lie low and earn income from government consultancies and official appointments.

Following the resignation of Housing Minister Roderick Galdes in January, The Shift has compiled a list of former ministers who have been removed, reshuffled, or rehabilitated.

Emmanuel Mallia

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 01/05/2017

Cabinet roles: Minister for Home Affairs and National Security (2013 – 2014), Minister for Competitiveness and Digital, Maritime and Services Economy (2016 – 2017)

Post-Cabinet appointments: British High Commissioner (2021 – 2025), Malta’s Ambassador to Spain (2025 – present)

Mallia was dismissed from his ministerial post in 2014 following an incident in which his driver, Paul Sheehan, fired a number of “warning shots” at an unarmed vehicle following a minor collision.

He was briefly reappointed with a different portfolio in 2016, though he was left out of Cabinet in 2017.

Michael Farrugia

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 20/02/2022

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Administrative Simplification (2013), Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity (2014 – 2017), Minister for Home Affairs and National Security (2017 – 2020), Minister for Energy and Water Management (2020), Minister for Senior Citizens and Active Ageing (2020 – 2022)

Post-Cabinet appointments: Head of Paola Health Hub

Farrugia’s whirlwind tour through five ministries in less than 10 years exposes the trail of scandals along the way, ranging from dodgy tenders to breaches of ministerial ethics by lying to journalists about a 2014 meeting with the alleged mastermind behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, Yorgen Fenech.

Following the 2022 general elections, in which Farrugia managed to hold onto his parliamentary seat, the Labour Party veteran was quietly left out of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s Cabinet.

Chris Cardona

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 15/01/2020

Cabinet roles: Minister for Economy, Investments, and Small Businesses (2013 – 2020)

Post-Cabinet appointments: youth policy consultant within the office of the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Research and Innovation

Perhaps one of the most notorious faces of the era of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat – largely due to his unfortunate habit of being repeatedly name-checked during the murder case of the century – Cardona had resisted his ouster until the very last possible minute, going as far as publicly defying Prime Minister Robert Abela by claiming he would not resign from deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Shortly after his departure from Cabinet, Cardona got busy selling Maltese passports through a company he co-owns, IWS Global Ltd.

He was brought back into the Labour fold as youth policy consultant ahead of the next elections.

Edward Scicluna

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 23/11/2020

Cabinet roles: Minister for Finance (2013 – 2020)

Post-Cabinet appointments: Central Bank Governor (2020 – 2025)

During his tenure as the holder of Malta’s purse strings, Scicluna oversaw practically every single corrupt deal signed during the Joseph Muscat era, infamously attempting to evade accountability for his involvement by claiming that Muscat, alongside his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, ran a “kitchen Cabinet” from which he was excluded.

Scicluna’s uneasy conscience, on display for all to view while he was testifying during the Caruana Galizia public inquiry board, did not stop him from successfully twisting the Prime Minister’s arm for a nomination to the role of Central Bank Governor – a role he held down even when faced with criminal charges for his involvement in the hospitals scandal.

Konrad Mizzi

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 26/11/2019

Cabinet roles: Minister for Energy and Water Conservation (2013 – 2014), Minister for Energy and Health (2014 – 2016), Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister (2016 – 2017), Minister for Tourism (2017 – 2019)

Post-Cabinet appointments: Malta Tourism Authority consultant (contract rescinded shortly after), head of Malta’s delegation to the OSCE (nomination withdrawn shortly after)

Konrad Mizzi earned himself the dubious honour of being practically the only person on this list whose legacy was so politically toxic that not even the Labour Party could rehabilitate it – even Joseph Muscat manages to feature regularly on party media while making the occasional public appearance at a rally.

After Prime Minister Robert Abela made two ill-fated attempts at reintegrating Mizzi into the government’s fold via two separate official appointments, Mizzi was completely cut loose, making the headlines only whenever the court allows him to temporarily unfreeze portions of his funds to pay pending tax arrears as a result of the ongoing criminal case against him and the other associates involved in the hospitals heist.

Justyne Caruana

First sworn in on: 02/04/2014

Last served in Cabinet: 22/12/2021

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing (2014 – 2017), Minister for Gozo (2017 – 2020), Minister for Education (2020 – 2021)

Post-Cabinet appointments: Finance Ministry consultant, Lands Authority consultant, legal advisor to the Commissioner for Revenue, Water Services Corporation consultant, Senior Legal Officer within the Victim Support Agency, Health Ministry legal adviser

Despite the string of embarrassing scandals that brought Caruana’s ministerial career to an end, the former Education Minister has been raking in over €15,000 a month from more government roles than anyone could ever hope to hold at once.

Caruana resigned in disgrace from both ministerial roles she previously held. She resigned from the Gozo Ministry following the ousting of her former husband (former Deputy Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta) over his ties with Yorgen Fenech. She resigned from the Education Ministry following reports that exposed her decision to award a €15,000 a month contract to her boyfriend, Daniel Bogdanovic.

Joseph Muscat

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 13/01/2020

Cabinet roles: Prime Minister (2013 – 2020)

Post-Cabinet appointments: none, but awarded himself a newly refurbished government office and a slew of perks prior his departure, several private “consultant” agreements with companies/individuals which had signed lucrative deals with the government during his tenure (Fortina, Accutor and its ties to Steward Healthcare, Dragonara casino, and Michael Stivala, to name a few).

The only thing larger than Muscat’s impact on the Labour Party’s fortunes is the permanent damage caused to the country’s reputation and its institutions on his watch.

The only former prime minister in the country’s history to have faced charges of conspiracy, fraud, and embezzlement in court, Muscat continues to relentlessly undermine his staunchest critics while going out of his way to insist he is “absolutely not guilty” of any wrongdoing.

Edward Zammit Lewis

First sworn in on: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 20/02/2022

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth (2013 – 2014), Minister for Tourism (2014 – 2017), Minister for European Affairs and Equality (2019 – 2020), Minister for Justice and Governance (2020 – 2022)

Post-Cabinet appointments: rejected attempt at nominating Zammit Lewis as Malta’s appointed judge to the EU General Court

After being forced to let go of the coveted justice portfolio and an embarrassing grilling in front of some of Europe’s most respected jurists, Zammit Lewis has now taken on the mantle of the backbencher MP with quotable soundbites that make him seem like a voice of reason among the Labour Party’s ranks.

Perhaps with enough elbow grease, Zammit Lewis may even make his own constituents forget that he had compared them to the Maltese character of Ġaħan in a chat with Yorgen Fenech.

Rosianne Cutajar

First sworn in: 20/06/2017

Last served in Cabinet: 25/02/2021

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Rights and Reforms (2020 – 2021)

Post-Cabinet appointments: Institute for Tourism Studies CEO’s consultant

Yet another former Labour Party insider whose career was ended via leaked text messages with Yorgen Fenech, Cutajar’s brief tenure as a member of Cabinet was mired in controversy.

Following her full-throated defence of Fenech at the Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe and the publication of private messages in which she said “kullħadd jitħanżer”, in addition to revelations about her role in brokering a property deal also involving Fenech, Cutajar was ousted from the Labour Party’s parliamentary group.

In 2024, Prime Minister Robert Abela permitted her to rejoin the Labour Party’s parliamentary group.

Aaron Farrugia

First sworn in on: 09/06/2017

Last served in Cabinet: 06/01/2024

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds and Social Dialogue (2017 – 2020), Minister for the Environment, Climate Change, and Planning (2020 – 2022), Minister for Transport, Capital Projects, and Infrastructure (2022 – 2024)

Post-Cabinet appointments: Malta’s Ambassador to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Tourism Ministry consultant, Board Director within Transport Malta

A rising star among a relatively young cohort of prominent Labour Party activists for the first few years of his career, Farrugia’s fortunes quickly precipitated when he took on responsibility for two particularly contentious portfolios: planning, and then transport as well as infrastructure.

In less than four years, Farrugia’s reputation for disastrous public gaffes, his clashes with OPM-appointed CEOs within his own authorities, and a series of empty promises regarding environment, planning, and traffic reform, led Prime Minister Robert Abela to sideline Farrugia in a Cabinet reshuffle.

While Farrugia remains a full-time MP, he has now styled himself as a “former minister turned entrepreneur”, selling his access to government via a company that offers “residency and citizenship planning” among other services.

Carmelo Abela

First sworn in: 09/12/2014

Last served in Cabinet: 20/02/2022

Cabinet roles: Minister for Home Affairs and National Security (2014 – 2017), Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion (2017 – 2020), Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister (2020 – 2022)

Post-Cabinet appointments: CEO of the Central Business District Foundation

Alleged to be an accomplice in the infamous HSBC heist by the individuals who executed the botched bank robbery, the Labour Party has gone to great lengths to restore Abela’s reputation, with the Prime Minister rushing to his defence as recently as this week. The Court of Appeal cleared Abela.

Chris Fearne

First sworn in: 02/04/2014

Last served in Cabinet: 12/05/2024

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Health (2014 – 2016), Minister for Health (2016 – 2024), Deputy Prime Minister (2020 – 2024)

Post-Cabinet appointments: consultant within the Health Ministry

With decades of experience as a respected surgeon and as a prominent veteran of the Labour Party, Fearne sought the Prime Minister’s seat following Joseph Muscat’s tenure.

Fearne’s willingness to look away while the hospital heist was taking place beneath his nose, coupled with his failed leadership campaign in which Muscat and his then-lawyer, Robert Abela, easily outmanoeuvred him, eventually led to his downfall, with criminal charges against him amounting to the final nail in the coffin for his leadership aspirations.

Having said that, Fearne’s enduring popularity with the Labour Party may prove too tempting for him to resist.

Clayton Bartolo

First sworn in: 15/01/2020

Last served in Cabinet: 26/11/2024

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Digital Services and the Economy (2020), Minister for Tourism and Public Cleanliness (2020 – 2024)

Post-Cabinet appointments: none

After hiring his girlfriend as his secretary on multiple salaries that amounted to a paycheck larger than the Prime Minister’s, the same girlfriend whom he later married in a lavish wedding, Bartolo’s resignation was made inevitable by the public uproar that followed.

After a suspicious contract, which featured his wife and an MTA-affiliated sports consultant, was also publicly exposed, Bartolo was consigned to the Labour Party’s bin.

The ex-tourism minister now resorts to making public announcements about wanting to serve the Labour Party.

Bartolo remains an MP and, similar to his colleague Aaron Farrugia, describes himself as an “independent consultant”.

Roderick Galdes

First sworn in: 13/03/2013

Last served in Cabinet: 24/01/2026

Cabinet roles: Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Rights (2013 – 2017), Parliamentary Secretary for Social Housing (2017 – 2020), Minister for Social and Affordable Accommodation (2020 – 2026)

Post-Cabinet appointments: none (yet)

The latest member to join the Labour Party’s hall of shame, Galdes resigned last week following months of one scandal after another within Malita Investments, a state-backed publicly-listed company that was meant to fund the government’s social housing projects but went on to face financial difficulties, stalling projects.

After multiple press investigations exposed Galdes’ personal business ties with contractors who were making millions from leasing their apartment blocks to the government, the former housing minister has now resigned from Cabinet – though not without smearing the journalists who exposed him as part of a “systemic, coordinated attack”.

Galdes remains a member of Parliament.

Dishonourable mentions

In addition to the individuals listed above, four other former Cabinet members merit mention: former Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, former Transport Minister Joe Mizzi, former Parliamentary Secretary for Active Ageing Anthony Agius Decelis, and former Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Silvio Parnis, who passed away in January 2023.

While Mizzi and Agius Decelis are both party veterans who spent decades building up their bases, Grech parachuted directly into the Labour Party’s upper echelons after becoming one of their first MEPs in 2004 and later, Deputy Prime Minister from 2013 – 2017.

Since their relatively brief stints in Cabinet – none of them served for more than two legislatures – Mizzi, Agius Decelis, and Grech all found different ways to continue raking in money from public coffers.

Agius Decelis alone holds at least five different government roles, including as one of Mosta’s local councillors.

Prime Minister Robert Abela personally appointed Grech as a “special envoy” within his office, amounting to a pay package of €60,000, besides a raft of sponsorships and EU funds being awarded to his children.

As for Mizzi, the former Transport Minister was also showered with government appointments over the years, including as chair of the Kottonera Foundation and as a board member of Transport Malta.