Gozo Minister Anton Refalo’s wife has been transferred from the Gozo Ministry to the Gozo General Hospital to remove every shadow that could have been cast on the minister's work, the Gozo Ministry said.

Mikelina Refalo, who used to work at the ministry’s customer care department, hit the headlines yesterday after the Opposition flagged her employment during a press conference about ‘works for votes’ allegedly carried out in Gozo.

Times of Malta had asked Dr Refalo about his wife’s position last March, when he had defended her employment vehemently.

Dr Refalo had said his wife had been working at the Gozo Ministry since 1991 and there was no conflict of interest.

Ms Refalo, however, is not the first ministerial spouse to cause a ruckus in the sister isle. 

Former minister Giovanna Debono’s husband Anthony has been pushed into the national spotlight after landing himself in the centre of a police investigation. He has since been charged with fraud and misappropriation of funds, which he is pleading not guilty to.

The investigation followed a whistleblower’s claims of a scam to provide Gozitan constituents with free construction services.

The works allegedly occurred when Mr Debono was also employed by the ministry as a civil servant and had headed the public developments department - responsible for public maintenance.

The whistleblower claimed Mr Debono had used public funds and resources to provide works for constituents in exchange for their support at the polls.