This is how ‘decent’ Evarist Bartolo is

Back in February, before Philip Rizzo was made CEO of the government organisation which handles a budget of millions to build and refurbish state schools, Edward Caruana, who is currently the focus of Rizzo’s corruption accusations and reports to the police, had already been accused by a building contractor, Giovanni Vella, of demanding a bribe of €30,000 just to release legitimate payments which were due to Vella anyway.

In other words, Caruana – who is Evarist Bartolo’s personal electoral vote-canvasser, who Bartolo inserted into that budget-handling government organisation when he became Education Minister, as his ‘person of trust’ – had asked for a bribe to let the contractor have what was lawfully his to begin with.

The contractor reported this to the Education Minister, but Bartolo – whose handpicked permanent secretary is Caruana’s brother – did not refer the matter to the police for investigation of his ‘person of trust’. Instead, the contractor found himself prosecuted for defaming Edward Caruana by telling the Minister that he had asked for a bribe.