Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1264355
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JUNE 2020 9 NEWS We would like to express our sincere gratitude and thank our beloved Mrs. Francesca Fenech, who is our landlord, with all our hearts. We are very grateful to God that we met with such a beautiful and kind person like her. During COVID-19 Mrs. Francesca has fully taken care of us. She not only helped us but even other missionaries: She used to help Radio Maria for 13 years. Mrs. Francesca is currently helping Archbishop G. Cefai in Peru. We wish our dear and beloved Mrs. Francesca good health and long life. Fenech Francesca K/A Frances Date of Birth: 09-May-1939 Mosta ank you! Edmond & Ivetta MASSIMO COSTA NEW revolving door rules for the Maltese civil service do not include all top jobs because not all CEOs have a supervisory or inspectorate's role, the Princi- pal Permanent Secretary has said. The new rules set out that, for two years after leaving or re- tiring from the public service, employees who held public po- sitions in regulatory or inspec- torate functions are prohibited from joining a private company or NGO which they had dealt with during the last five years in their public job. The rules were issued by the Office of the Principal Perma- nent Secretary in a directive on 18 June. But certain posts, such as the Transport Malta CEO, the Film Commissioner, and any posi- tion at Infrastructure Malta, are not included in the list of roles from which it is now pro- hibited to transition directly into the private sector. This is despite the fact that such positions have lucrative trade-offs in the private sector. In comments to MaltaToday, Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar, however, em- phasised that the directive spe- cifically applied to public posts having functions of a regulato- ry and inspectorate nature. "The Transport Malta CEO does not have a regulatory function. Nor does the Film Commissioner, or roles with Infrastructure Malta," he said. Cutajar highlighted that sim- ilar laws in other EU countries all qualified to which positions revolving door rules applied. "The law – which is the first time that revolving door rules are being applied in Malta – is very clear, and one cannot go beyond its parameters. Ul- timately, the new rules will continue boosting the public sector's credibility," Cutajar added. Employment and industrial relations law expert lawyer Ian Spiteri Bailey said that he could not immediately see anything in the new rules which are con- trary to law. "There is nothing illegal in the fact that the new law includes some posts and positions and not others," Spiteri Bailey said. "I see nothing out of the ordi- nary in the fact that some roles are covered by the rules, and some aren't." Spiteri Bailey said that he could understand that one might ask why some roles from particular sectors – such as the Film Commissioner – are ex- cluded, while other roles are included. "But, in this regard, I should also point out that, in its case law, the court has said that the more restrictive the type of post, the more careful the leg- islator has to be in terms of the provisions which apply to that role." In areas of the public sec- tor where the role occupied is broad in nature, it is easier to apply revolving door rules, he said, since those occupying such a public sector role could feasibly find an alternative role within the private sector which is not directly related to their past public job. However, in the case of other posts which are more specific in nature, Spiteri Bailey said it would be difficult to require that someone who worked in such a position not be able to leave their public sector role and enter a similar position in private industry. "To give a very simple ex- ample to illustrate this point, if a person had spent their life working specifically making bread, it would not make sense to prohibit that individual from joining a bakery," he said. mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt Not all top jobs need revolving door ban, says public service chief Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar Naxxar trees face chop for car showroom JAMES DEBONO THE last of a patch of trees on the site of the Naxxar-Mosta roundabout could get the chop from a four-storey development for a car showroom. The 350 square metre site lies at the corner of Labour avenue on the busy roundabout connecting Mosta to Lija, where car import- er Keith Grima wants to develop two basement levels, three full floors and a receded floor. The site presently consists of an old garden full of trees. Two previous attempts in 2000 and 2007 to develop the site for retail development had been re- jected by the Planning Authori- ty. The first, by Tarcisio Galea, envisaged the construction of a showroom at ground floor and offices at first floor, with open garage space at semi-basement level. The second, by Carmelo Mallia, envisaged the construc- tion of a retail shop. Although technically outside development boundaries, the present site forms part of an 'ar- ea of containment' designated in the 2006 local plans where developments like showrooms can be allowed. Nevertheless, the development of the site with a four-storey building instead of the current garden is expected have a considerable visual im- pact on the entrance towards Naxxar.