Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/388498
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2014 5 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In February 2005, MaltaToday put it to Cachia Caruana – then permanent rep- resentative to the EU after having served for some 20 years at Eddie Fenech Adami's side – that as am- bassador receiving a Scale 1 salary, he was debarred by Public Service rules from "holding office in party political organisations" and was "re- quired to maintain a reserve in po- litical matters and abstain from any public manifestation of their views". He replied on the very same day, 13 February, declaring that he was "not, nor have I ever been, a mem- ber of the Public Service… I serve for only as long as the government of the day wishes to retain my serv- ices." The next day, Cachia Caruana wrote to principal permanent secre- tary Godwin Grima, head of the civil service. In the letter Cachia Caruana explains how, as personal assistant to the prime minister, he had enjoyed Fenech Adami's confidence to stand as a member of the executive com- mittee of the Nationalist Party since 1999: as head of the PM's secretariat, he was, after all, a politically appoint- ed member of staff, not employed as a civil servant. But upon becoming an ambassador in 2005 – the Prime Minister now was Lawrence Gonzi – his new ap- pointment meant being subject to Public Service rules. "It was certainly not envisaged that this appointment would preclude me from continuing to form part of this (PN executive) committee," Cachia Caruana argued in his letter to Grima. He also argues that the same public management code allows public of- ficers to "ensure (that) their partici- pation in political activities does not bring them into conflict with their primary duty to serve the govern- ment." "It is clear that this concern does not apply to the undersigned" – he continues – "since I am not, and have never been, a member of the Public Service and only serve for as long as the government of the day wishes to retain my services. "In the light of the above I would appreciate your written confirma- tion that, in continuance from my previous contract as Head of the Prime Minister's Secretariat in terms of which my participation in the Nationalist Party's Executive Com- mittee was approved at all times by the Prime Minister, my contract as Permanent Representative of Malta to the EU similarly provides for such participation." In September 2005, Godwin Grima obliged with a letter to Prime Min- ister Lawrence Gonzi, repeating Cachia Caruana's arguments. "I have assessed this matter within the framework of the government's policy on the participation of public officers in political activities and have concluded that there is no conflict of interest between Mr Cachia Carua- na's membership of the PN executive committee and his role as permanent representative," Grima decided. According to Grima, in his note to PM Gonzi, Cachia Caruana's partici- pation in the PN – which put him at the heart of the Nationalist Party's core strategy group – did not con- flict with his government service and it maintained "ministerial and public confidence in the impartiality of the advice given". Grima however concedes that the public service management code had not been updated to "clarify any pro- visions that may give rise to difficul- ties of interpretation" – a situation he was keen to overlook given Cachia Caruana's urgent wishes. "This is not to say that there is any doubt as to Mr Cachia Caruana's case… I propose a side-letter be added to Mr Cachia Caruana's con- tract as Permanent Representative confirming that the government's restrictions on the participation of public officers in political activities do not apply to him." Top salary, tax free benefits The correspondence with Godwin Grima also shows that the head of the civil service had obtained clarifica- tion from the Commissioner for In- land Revenue so that Richard Cachia Caruana's benefits would be exempt from income tax, and that the am- bassador be given "an additional side-letter to [his] agreement". Cachia Caruana earned an annual salary of some €148,000 that includ- ed emoluments to top up his Scale 1 civil service salary. Despite bending backwards to free him from the public service rules that stood in the way of his political role in the PN, Cachia Caruana still got a civil service Scale 1 salary of over €42,000 a year, apart from an additional €100,883 in global emol- uments that globally took his earn- ings close to €150,000 a year. Cachia Caruana was additionally paid another €96,000 to rent his du- plex apartment over the artificial lakes in the wealthy Ixelles dis- trict in Brussels, as well as another €75,000 for the payment of Cachia Caruana housekeeping, a personal driver, and a police escort. Cachia Caruana was, undeniably, Malta's most powerful ambassador, serving as the country's voice inside the EU – his salary was not tagged to the customary Scale 3 'ambassador's salary' but to the top rung. He was granted a 10% top-up on his civil service salary "as a recognition of him being one of the most expe- rienced individuals in the service of government, having continuously served in the highest of roles even before 1996," foreign minister Tonio Borg had said in 2012, when Cachia Caruana fell from grace after Gonzi lost a vote of confidence in his EU ambassador. Cachia Caruana's salary details on- ly emerged after MPs forced his res- ignation in a motion of censure that was passed by the vote of govern- ment MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. Cachia Caruana had been previ- ously grilled in the foreign affairs committee on his role in reactivating Malta's participation in Nato's Part- nership for Peace. Wikileaks cables showed that Cachia Caruana was the prime mover in convincing Nato to reactivate Malta's membership in the PfP so that the Nationalist gov- ernment would not need to secure a vote in parliament, which would have surely been opposed by the La- bour Party. Two weights, two measures It was a different matter in the case of a different person – in 2008, Alter- nattiva Demokratika's secretary-gen- eral, Victor Galea, was told he could not continue exercising his teaching profession because teachers in pub- lic employment were precluded from any political post. To justify Galea's effective dismiss- al from the civil service, the OPM cited the Public Service Management Code, which bans anyone from scale 1 to scale 13 positions from any sort of political involvement. The rules were revised after the Galea case. Galea claimed he had been "sin- gled out for the implementation of these provisions of the Public Service Code", insisting that "various other public officers have been permitted to hold office within the party struc- tures of the Malta Labour Party and the Nationalist Party". Cachia Caruana got exemption to stay on PN committee after MaltaToday flagged conflict RCC got side-letter to contract, side-letter to agreement