The Council of Europe will await the result of the polls of the Maltese parliament before deciding the fate of Rosianne Cutajar
An investigation by the Council of Europe assembly into an alleged breach of ethics by Rosianne Cutajar will await the outcome of a similar probe in Malta.
The assembly’s rules committee decided on Wednesday to ask Speaker Anglu Farrugia to provide him with detailed information on ongoing procedures in the Maltese parliament.
Cutajar, a Labor MP and former parliamentary secretary, is facing an ethics investigation in Malta and the Council of Europe assembly over her involvement in a property deal concluded by the murder suspect of Daphne Caruana Galizia , Yorgen Fenech.
Cutajar faces claims he received thousands of euros in cash as a brokerage fee from the property deal. She rejected the request but admitted that she received € 9,000 in cash from Fenech as a birthday present.
The case before the Maltese parliament is still pending after the proceedings ended in limbo earlier this year when the Speaker came out of a stormy meeting that was to decide the way forward.
Cutajar was subsequently accused of violating ethics by Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt for her close ties to Yorgen Fenech and at a time when she used her seat in the Council of Europe to argue against a public inquiry into the murder. of Caruana Galizia.
At today’s Council of Europe meeting, the rules committee said that until the information requested by the Maltese Speaker is received and the national parliamentary procedure is completed, the investigation will resume during the second next year’s session.
The assembly censured Cutajar for failing to submit a declaration of interests from 2018 for four consecutive years, saying that this constituted a “minor breach of the Code of Conduct” and decided to inform the Speaker of the Maltese parliament. with this.
Cutajar was replaced as one of Malta’s representatives in the parliamentary delegation to the COE assembly last month. She was replaced by Energy Minister Miriam Dalli.