Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/281887
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 MARCH 2014 6 News Scicluna being kicked upstairs FINANCE minister Edward Sciclu- na, a former MEP, can be expected to pack his bags for a renewed sojourn in Brussels, this time as European Commissioner. Scicluna, 67, is expected to be kicked upstairs to become Malta's next Commissioner to replace Tonio Borg, who was appointed back in Oc- tober 2012 as a replacement for John Dalli after the latter's resignation. MaltaToday has already reported that the finance ministry will prob- ably be transferred to the Prime Minister's office, to be captained by a parliamentary secretary. That job would most likely fall un- der Edward Zammit Lewis, currently the parliamentary secretary for com- petitiveness under the economy ministry, led by Chris Cardona. Government insiders have de- scribed the choice of Scicluna for finance minister as one of the "weak links" in Joseph Muscat's large Cabi- net of ministers. Reputed to be more of a theoretician and not much of a pragmatist, Scicluna had less influ- ence over the operations in his min- istry than his permanent secretary, Alfred Camilleri – the standing joke being that Camilleri was effectively the minister. Camilleri was retained as perma- nent secretary when Labour was elected to power, one of only two top civil servants retained as head of their ministries since March 2013. Scicluna's posting in Brussels would be an inconsequential decision, since the commissioner's role has little bearing or influence on decisions pertaining to Malta in the Council of Ministers, where the member states' prime ministers take decision. The move to place finance under the OPM is also reminiscent of the Gonzi administration, when Tonio Fenech served as parliamentary sec- retary for finance between 2004 and 2008. Fenech had just been elected to MP for the first time and given a Cabinet position, much like Edward Scicluna – who ran for MP for the first time in 2013, and Edward Zam- mit Lewis, who was elected for the first time in 2013. Zammit Lewis, a lawyer and former classmate of Muscat at St Aloysius' College, is considered to be close to the prime minster and shares his same zeal for expansionist econom- ics. In Brussels, Scicluna can expect a handsome €240,000 salary, com- mensurate enough for the job, and one which will match his expecta- tions: he famously remarked that he was "insulted" at the salary a minis- ter was paid. His €20,278 a month salary will also be topped up with a residence allowance of 15% of the salary, €3,039 monthly. Upon leaving office he can expect to be paid one month's salary in the form of a resettlement allowance, and the three-year transitional al- lowance of over 50% of his salary. Scicluna's career would be nothing short of star-studded with this latest appointment. An Oxford graduate of politics and economics, he was ap- pointed Professor and head of eco- nomics at the University of Malta, and later occupied numerous private and public posts: chairman of the Malta Council of Economic and So- cial Development (MCESD), chair- man of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Electoral Com- missioner, a director at the Central Bank, and a director on numerous private company boards. He was a Labour MEP from 2009 onwards, elected to the Maltese par- liament on both the fifth and eighth districts in 2013, and appointed min- ister of finance. He will be Malta's fourth commissioner to be appoint- ed to the EU's executive. Perjury trouble for woman who tried to fight eviction CHRIS MANGION A woman who requested the courts to nullify a contract of debt signed by her husband, is being investigated for perjury after caught lying under oath when she denied having author- ised her husband to act on her behalf – knowing that she had indeed given him power of at- torney. A contract dated 15 October 2009 read that Peter Agius owed Anthony Camilleri and his wife Karmena the sum of €79,613 plus 8% interest. The contract also included an apartment in Triq Gafa, Mosta, as a general hypothec. In 2010, following a court-or- dered sale by auction, the apart- ment became the property of the Camilleris. A year later, the wife of Peter Agius, Doris, filed a civil suit requesting that the court nulli- fies the contract and revoke the sale by auction of their Mosta residence, claiming that she, as Agius's spouse, was not aware of the existence of the contract. Agius said that when she re- ceived letters relating to the sale by auction she had decided not to get involved in the case. But in the summer of 2012, a court marshal knocked on her door and served her an eviction or- der. Allegedly, it was when Ag- ius informed her husband about the eviction order that she learnt about the contract of debt. On their part, the Camilleris argued that Doris had given her husband power of attorney, which read that he "could act on my behalf without the need of me being present for the deal- ing". Under oath, Agius told the court that she had never given her husband any authorization Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (left) and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna