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MT 29 November 2015

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 NOVEMBER 2015 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The MP was engaged by the authority as a control officer in 2004, some nine years before her election to Par- liament in 2013. The information tabled in parliament adds that the MP only fulfilled 34% and 36% of her working hours in 2013 and 2014. Cardona added that the author- ity has no information on whether Debono was engaged through a public call in 2004. The answers provided by minis- ters to the questions posed by La- bour MP Luciano Busuttil – who himself earns a handsome €44,880 for his role as MP and head of the Malta Sports Council – show that Debono is not the only MP en- gaged by the State. No attendance record for opposition whip Cardona also provided informa- tion on opposition whip David Ag- ius, who is employed as a manager at the Malta Freeport Corporation, run by Labour candidate Aaron Farrugia. Apart from his MP's salary, Ag- ius earns a basic salary of €30,424 topped up by a €4,800 allowance and a 10% performance bonus. Agius was engaged by the corpo- ration as a clerk in 1990 and was then promoted to Assistant Man- ager in 2009 and Human Resourc- es manager in 2012. Following La- bour's return to power, Agius was appointed as EU funds and compli- ance manager in September 2013. The minister said that the cor- poration has no information about Agius's original engagement, be- cause the MP's human resources file only includes information from 2004 onwards. Cardona added that he could not provide information about Agius's attendance record because Agius does not use the palm reading sys- tem to record his attendance. Teleworking-class hero Unlike Debono, her colleague on the opposition benches, Robert Cutajar is a fan of teleworking, with the former Mellieha mayor work- ing four days a week from home. Cutajar, who was previously em- ployed within former Prime Min- ister Lawrence Gonzi's secretariat, earns up to €22,000 as a full-time employee of the Animal Welfare directorate, also apart from his parliamentary earnings of slightly over €20,000. The answer tabled by environ- ment minister Leo Brincat shows that Cutajar is only present at the directorate's office one day a week, with the rest of the work complet- ed at home. Moreover, Cutajar is excused from work to perform parliamen- tary duties according to the Public Service Management Code. After working in Gonzi's secretariat, Cutajar was appointed as Officer in Grade 9 by the Public Service Commission in 2010. Healthy jobs for opposition MPs Health minister Konrad Mizzi provided information on two op- position MPs, Clyde Puli and Mario Galea, who are currently employed by departments and authorities falling under his responsibility. Over and above his MP's hono- raria, Puli earns €35,549 in his role as PR and communications man- ager at the Foundation for Medical Services, which the MP joined in 1999. The minister did not provide any information on Puli's attend- ance record. Galea is employed as a senior staff nurse and earns €21,507 a year. Another health services employ- ee is former MP Joe Cassar, who this month resigned his seat fol- lowing MaltaToday's revelations on his links with businessman Joe Gaffarena. Following the 2013 election Cas- sar was employed as a consult- ant psychiatrist with the Mental Health Services, where he earns up to €52,701 a year. Another opposition MP earning a government pay cheque is Toni Bezzina, who is paid some €30,000 in his role as senior architect with- in the transport ministry. Apart from his parliamentary re- muneration and his transport min- istry job he has held since 2012, Bezzina also has a private practice. Finance minister pays for MP's advice Government jobs are not exclu- sive to opposition MPs. Labour backbencher Charles Mangion is paid over €22,000 to advise the fi- nance minister. The former minis- ter and Enemalta chairperson acts as Chair of the Financial Services Working Group (FSWG) and Ad- visor on financial services issues related to the FSWG. Although the contract does not specify the number of hours Man- gion is expected to put in, he is pro- vided with free telephony, mobile and internet and benefits which are not already included within Parliamentary remuneration. Another government backbench- er earning an additional salary is architect Charles Buhagiar who earns more than current ministers despite being excluded from the Cabinet. Apart from managing a private architecture firm, the MP serves as chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council, for which he earns €33,000. Moreover, Muscat has appointed Buhagiar as his consultant on large projects. 17 MPs are also employed at uni- versity and other educational insti- tutions but the information pro- vided by education minister Evarist Bartolo does not include names. Another unnamed MP is provid- ed with a vehicle for his part-time role with the Sport Promotion Unit within the Gozo ministry. A number of current MPs, includ- ing Claudio Grech, Stephen Spiteri and Claudette Buttigieg previously held government jobs while former MP Jesmond Mugliett earns €16.29 per hour in his role of Project Man- agement Adviser at WasteServ. Jobs for the boys and girls The disproportionate number of opposition MPs currently in gov- ernment jobs might have more to do with the government's gener- osity than with the opposition's greed. Last year, a MaltaToday report showed that the 39 Labour MPs are costing the taxpayer more than €1.6 million a year, a substantial increase of €472,439 when com- pared to the previous Nationalist parliamentary group in 2012. A comparison of salaries paid in 2012 and those that were paid in 2014, shows that the Labour parliamentary group is 30% more expensive than the previous gov- ernment MPs. Following the 2013 general elec- tion, Muscat had described the appointment of parliamentary assistants by his predecessor as a "waste of time" and defended the appointment of MPs to govern- ment boards as a move to "bring Parliament closer to the people." While the ministerial code of ethics stipulates that Cabinet members must stop practising their private professions, many Labour backbenchers have ended in a better financial position than ministers and parliamentary sec- retaries because they can still practise their profession while earning two or three extra sala- ries. With an unprecedented major- ity of nine seats, Muscat went on to appoint a large Cabinet while nine backbenchers were appoint- ed to government boards or as consultants, with at least two of them being better paid than Mus- cat himself. Roles are expected to be reversed once the opposition wins power, however following the govern- ment's decision to remove legal bans on the appointment of MPs to government boards, PN leader Simon Busuttil said he opposes the appointment of MPs to execu- tive roles on government entities. 6 News 6 News +1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05 4,.!//%+*ŏ+"ŏ *0!.!/0ŏĢŏ!/%*#ŏ+"ŏ.!)%/!/ *2%00%+*ŏ0+ŏ/1)%0ŏ.+,+/(/ŏ"+.ŏ0$!ŏ!/!ŏ+"ŏ .!)%/!/ŏ0+ŏ$+1/!ŏ )%*%/0.0%2!ŏþ!/ŏ+"ŏ0$!ŏ +1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05ŏ%*ŏ(0 !"ċčŏ ĥĀĀāĥĂĀāĆ $!ŏ+1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05ŏ*+0%ü!/ŏ0$0ŏ/!(! ŏ 4,.!//%+*ŏ+"ŏ *0!.!/0ŏĨ ĩŏ +1)!*0/ŏ).'! ŏ ė ĥĀĀāĥĂĀāĆŏĢŏ!/!ŏ+"ŏ.!)%/!/ŏ0+ŏ$+1/!ŏ )%*/%0.0%2!ŏþ!/ŏ+"ŏ0$!ŏ+1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05Ęŏ 3%((ŏ!ŏ.!!%2! ŏ%*ŏ0$!ŏ4,.!//%+*ŏ+"ŏ *0!.!/0ŏ+4Čŏ /%010! ŏ0ŏ0$!ŏ+1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05ČŏĂĂČŏ .%-ŏ%!0.+ŏ(+.%*%Čŏ(+.%*Čŏ5ŏ*+0ŏ(0!.ŏ0$*ŏ ā āĀċĀĀċ)ċŏŏ+"ŏāć0$ŏ!!)!.ŏĂĀāĆċ ŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏŏ *0!.!/0! ŏ,.0%!/ŏ)5ŏ/1)%0ŏ.!-1!/0/ŏ"+.ŏ (.%ü0%+*/ŏ%*ŏ3.%0%*#ŏ0+ŏ0$!ŏ+1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05ŏ 5ŏ/!* %*#ŏ*ŏ!)%(ŏ+*ŏ ,.+1.!)!*0ċ$Į$ċ#+2ċ)0ŏ5ŏā/0ŏ!!)!.ŏĂĀāĆċŏŏ $!ŏ ŏ +1)!*0ŏ)5ŏ!ŏ +3*(+ ! ŏ".+)ŏ 33 333ċ$+1/%*#10$+.%05ċ#+2ċ)0ċŏ $!ŏ+1/%*#ŏ10$+.%05ŏ.!/!.2!/ŏ0$!ŏ.%#$0ŏ0+ŏ .!"1/!ŏ*5ŏ+û!.ŏ!2!*ŏ0$!ŏ)+/0ŏ 2*0#!+1/ċ MPs working for the State (or vice-versa?) At least nine serving MPs are currently employed by the State, a series of parliamentary questions has revealed From left: Charles Mangion, Kristy Debono and Robert Cutajar

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