[3] Despite his success in achieving a record of tourist arrivals in Malta after the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, in November 2024 he was forced to resign as Minister for Tourism and as a Labour MP after a scandal broke out involving the promotion of his then-girlfriend and personal secretary Amanda Muscat to a consultancy role and allowing her to receive a salary without fulfilling her duties for 13 months.

Commissioner Azzopardi found that following the start of the extramarital relationship between Bartolo and Amanda Muscat in 2020 – then his private secretary – the latter was promoted to a much higher grade as policy consultant, a position for which she was not qualified for.

[6] Bartolo, considered a close ally of Prime Minister Robert Abela, initially refused to resign.

Prime Minister Abela, having personally terminated Muscat's contract in 2021, initially insinuated that he wouldn't ask for Bartolo's resignation, instead deferring the decision to the bi-partisan parliamentary standards committee.

[7] Nevertheless, after a second scandal emerged where Muscat was alleged to have received a €50,000 kickback for a Malta Tourism Authority deal, Prime Minister Robert Abela forced Clayton Bartolo to resign on 26 November 2024.