Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/734031
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2016 6 News JURGEN BALZAN THE controversial film director Mario Philip Azzopardi is earn- ing just under €80,000 a year for his role as the Valletta 2018 Foundation's artistic director, putting him above the Attorney General and the Malta Tourism Authority and Identity Malta chairmen in the public sector rich list. A spokesperson for the justice and culture ministry told Mal- taToday that Azzopardi – who is responsible for V18's main events – "is earning nearly half the earnings of Mr Wayne Mar- shall and another eight assistants who were all entrusted with this same job during the previous ad- ministration for the global sum of €175,000 per year. Therefore, V18 is today saving €97,000 per year." Questions on whether the re- muneration includes perks and what the foundation's other ar- tistic directors earn remained unanswered. Azzopardi himself at first said when contacted by phone that the figure was incorrect, however in an email sent to MaltaToday he later said: "I understand that the ministry has adequately an- swered these questions. I am in agreement with the ministry's response and have nothing else to add." Questions on how many hours Azzopardi – who is active in Malta as a theatre and film pro- ducer – puts in as V18 artistic di- rector and how long was he away in summer to direct two episodes of a TV series created by his daughter Lara, also remained un- answered. However, the ministry did say that "while [formerV18 direc- tor] Mr Marshall was not based in Malta, Mr Azzopardi is based completely here, except for a few weeks in summer in order to visit his family in Canada." Azzopardi took on the role of Valletta 2018 Foundation artistic director in January 2015. According to the culture min- istry and V18 chairman Jason Micallef, unlike his predecessor Azzopardi is not responsible for all V18 events but is working in collaboration with others in a number of co-funded projects which include the Valletta Pag- eant of the Seas which took place on 7 June, 2016. Azzopardi has consistently courted controversy with what some collaborators have de- scribed as his abusive behav- iour. Before taking on the V18 role, he caused a stir after post- ing islamophobic comments on Facebook. Azzopardi's rant – in which he called all Muslims "idiots" – had prompted justice and culture minister Owen Bon- nici to distance himself from the comments, saying they were "un- warranted" and did not tally with the government's position. In his rant, Azzopardi lashed out against Shari'a law, saying he would make sure that any 'idiot' who follows Shari'a law should not attain any political power, "at the risk of using violence against him." He stood by what he wrote but 3 2 Azzopardi paid €80,000 for top V18 post Mario Philip Azzopardi and (right) Wayne Marshall