PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami has insisted the buck must stop with Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, who was now not only close to a scandal but directly involved.

The Times of Malta reported last week that Mr Bartolo ordered a contractor to be paid more than €400,000 for works that had not been approved by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools.

According to the FTS board, the contractor, Avantgarde Projects Limited, was not in line with tender obligations issued in 2011 and carried out works at St Ignatius College in Ħandaq, Qormi, without its approval.

However, in 2015 Mr Bartolo endorsed a recommendation by his ministry’s permanent secretary, Joe Caruana, to overrule the FTS and settle the contractor’s claims for payment.

Speaking at a press conference outside the Education Ministry, Dr Fenech Adami said a scandal that had begun with a person close to Mr Bartolo, his canvasser Edward Caruana, now touched the minister directly.

“Evarist Bartolo is seeking every excuse to avoid shouldering political responsibility, claiming to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem,” Dr Fenech Adami said. “The only solution he found was for the contractor, by loading the public with an expense it should never have had to shoulder.”

The PN deputy leader shrugged off claims made by Mr Bartolo that the problem should have been dealt with under the previous administration, when the tender was originally issued.

“You don’t deal with problems by just agreeing to any claims, no matter how unjust,” he said.