Labour’s choice

Labour created a new ambassador position to Liechtenstein, a micro-state half the size of Malta and with a population smaller than Gozo’s.

It was absolutely unnecessary because Malta’s Ambassador to Switzerland has always been responsible for relations with Liechtenstein. But Labour had someone in mind who wanted an ambassadorship, so Malta got a new ambassadorial nominee.

The plan hit a snag when the person Labour wanted to reward with that ambassadorship, Roseanne Camilleri, was suspended over suspected serious misconduct, fraud, mismanagement and procurement irregularities.

An internal report compiled by then-Health Permanent Secretary Joseph Chetcuti revealed that a Qormi Health centre refurbishment that should have cost €56,000 ended up costing €1 million.

Another similar project at Birkirkara’s health centre was projected to cost €264,000, but ended up costing nearly €500,000.

Roseanne Camilleri was the CEO Primary Health Care who signed off on multiple direct orders to the same company, GM Developments Ltd, which carried out those works. The owner, Simon Grech, just happened to be an acquaintance of Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri.

Camilleri endorsed 10 separate invoices for payments to Grech’s company, amounting to hundreds of thousands of euro more than the original estimates.

When journalists asked for a copy of the internal probe into the matter, the Health Ministry replied that the report couldn’t be released because it had been forwarded to the police for criminal investigation into possible economic crimes, corruption, and misappropriation of public funds.

In Parliament, PN MP Ian Vassallo asked Minister Jo Etienne Abela about the matter. The Minister replied that he couldn’t divulge any details as disciplinary proceedings against Camilleri and another official were ongoing.

On 6 June 2025, Roseanne Camilleri, who by then had been appointed Mount Carmel CEO, was suspended from her job.

It transpired that the contractor involved had submitted quotations months before bids were requested.

His final invoices significantly exceeded both his initial quotes and the allowed limit for direct orders, which Camilleri approved anyway. He’d even been paid for work he hadn’t quoted for. He was allowed to set the rates himself without any negotiation.

Camilleri’s excuse for signing off on those exorbitant payments was that it wasn’t her fault because she didn’t realise these were direct orders and “was under the impression” the works were awarded through a tender process.

She insisted she wasn’t to blame because her financial controller told her everything was in order. She blamed him and other officials for breaching public procurement rules.

But she was the CEO. Didn’t she bother to ask how a project meant to cost €56,000 ballooned to over €1 milllion? If Camillleri missed such enormous discrepancies in her role as CEO, would you nominate her for ambassador?

Faced with this scandal, instead of scrapping the plan altogether or appointing a more suitable candidate, Labour simply put the plan on hold – and waited for the issue to be “resolved”.

Camilleri claimed innocence. She insisted she didn’t discuss the details of the multi-million-euro projects but simply signed documents forwarded to her by the Chief Financial Officer without question.

But the contractor, Grech, admitted that it was the CEO, Camilleri, and the CFO, Alfred Farrugia, who kept tasking his company with additional work and signed the necessary approvals.

Yet he could not explain how he had submitted his quotes five months earlier than his competitors.

Instead of honourably accepting responsibility, at least for her dereliction of duty, and resigning, Camilleri claimed she had been targeted in an attempt at “character assassination” by people within the Ministry. Those claims were repeated by her lawyer, former Labour MP Luciano Busuttil.

On 12 July 2025, just weeks after Camilleri’s suspension and despite the highly suspicious circumstances, her partner, Anthony Debono, announced to the nation that “Roseanne Camilleri, CEO of Malta’s National Mental Health Services, returned to her role – bathed in faith, community warmth and truth”.

He titled his social media post “A triumphant return, timed by providence”. He made his own accusations of “jealousy and manipulation” and of “fabrication”. He lauded his partner’s “four decades of transformative leadership” and promised to release 80 clips “showcasing Roseanne’s journey of impact”.

“Appreciate this visual story – a tapestry of truth, strength and spiritual renewal,” he advised the public.

The investigations into Camilleri’s role in the shady deals with Simon Grech had been quietly dropped.

Labour was hoping nobody would notice that she’d returned to the same post she was suspended from just weeks earlier. But Debono wanted the world to know and broadcast her “triumphant return”.

When asked to explain her sudden reinstatement and whether charges against Camilleri had been dropped, the Health Ministry didn’t reply.

Camilleri herself commented that “all charges against me were dropped, and I have nothing else to add”, without elaborating further.

Labour swiftly reactivated the process to make her an ambassador. Her involvement in that shady scandal was bound to come up at her grilling at the parliamentary public appointments committee.

PN MP Adrian Delia did his duty and challenged her over her role in the health centre scandal.

Camilleri was uncomfortable and unconvincing, and the PN MPs on the committee voted against her nomination. True to form, Labour MPs rescued her nomination with their vote.

Debono sprang back into action. Just hours after Camilleri’s parliamentary grilling, Debono sent threatening messages to Adrian Delia, flavoured with some choice profanities.

He threatened Delia that he would act to prevent him from contesting the next general elections and would pressure others to ensure Delia was deprived of his legal work. Speaker Anġlu Farrugia ruled that Debono’s messages amounted to a serious threat.

Yet Labour pressed on with Camilleri’s nomination.

When Foreign Minister Ian Borg was asked whether Camilleri was a suitable choice for the ambassador’s role, he couldn’t even bring himself to reply in the affirmative.

Instead, he washed his hands of a nomination that goes through his own ministry, saying he would “abide by the decision of the parliamentary committee”.

When Borg thought the saga was over, it was revealed that his new ambassador gave a direct order worth €43,000 to a company owned by her protective partner, Anthony Debono.

Roseanne Camilleri has no relevant qualifications in diplomacy or foreign affairs. Even without her dodgy baggage, why would Labour be so desperate to appoint her? We will probably never get an honest answer to that question, but it must be asked nonetheless.

There might be one spanner in the wheel: Liechtenstein’s government still needs to approve Camilleri’s appointment.