Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/833901
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 JUNE 2017 5 News Controversial car that earned Muscat €7,000 a year to be auctioned MATTHEW VELLA PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat will be putting his personal car up for auction, the sales proceeds of which will partly go to charity. The controversial vehi- cle, an Alfa Romeo, was the subject of much criticism against Muscat when in 2013 he kept the personal car for government business, allow- ing him to claim over €7,000 a year as an annual allow- ance. In his first interview since being re-elected with TVM head of news Reno Bugeja, Muscat said the car would be passed on to the Labour Party to sell off, with part of the proceeds going to char- ity. Muscat did not even pay tax on the €7,000 allowance he received every year for using his personal car for of- ficial purposes, netting him €28,000 tax-free over the four-year legislature. His pay as prime minister was just over €52,000. The Prime Minister's sal- ary is taxed at source. Apart from the annual tax-free payment, Muscat also re- ceived an unlimited fuel allowance and the use of a second car provided by the government. The National Audit Of- fice had already referred to a case involving the chairman of the Malta Council for Sci- ence and Technology, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, saying that it was an "anomaly" for fuel expenses to be paid over and above a car allowance. "In line with general gov- ernment practices, the award of a car allowance is a comprehensive compensa- tion for waiving the entitle- ment of a fully expensed car, which also comprises the consumption of fuel, and thus any further related al- lowance is precluded as it is considered as constituting a double payment of the same benefit," the Auditor Gen- eral said. PD deputy leader resigns CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The couple tried to drown out the jeers by shouting "Viva Malta" over them. Fresh from her historic elec- tion to Parliament on the 10th district, Farrugia said that she would not rule out contesting for the leadership of the Nation- alist Party. In her initial comments to the press after her election, Farrugia said that she is "excluding noth- ing" at this stage, and left open the possibility of a formal merg- er between the PN and the PD. Although Farrugia is not eli- gible to contest the PN's leader- ship, she did not rule anything out. "I want to have a say in the choice of the new PN leader because it is important for the country to have a potential al- ternative government. I exclude nothing at this stage, but I will play my part in the national interest and what needs to be done will be done." "Stop thinking in terms of the PN and the PD, but in terms of the Opposition as a whole. It is in the national interest for there to be a firm and sincere Opposi- tion." On Facebook, where the great announcements are now being made, Farrugia's brief reply to the press provoked a different kind of reaction from her fledg- ling party's deputy leader, An- thony Buttigieg (pictured). "Marlene Farrugia's pub- lic statement a few minutes ago that she does not exclude contesting for the PN leader- ship and merging PD with PN goes completely opposite to my hopes, aspirations and phi- losophy… I cannot continue as deputy leader on a mandate that no longer seems to hold weight," Buttigieg says, announcing his resignation. "I joined PD to create a new way. A possibility of coalition and inclusion politics. I firmly believe that this is the only way we can stop the revolving door politics we have suffered from, yes suffered, since Independ- ence. We need to bridge the divisions in this country, not maintain them." He later confirmed that he will remain part of PD and called for an extraordinary general meet- ing to be convened, so as to re- confirm the old officials or elect new ones. "The principles on which we were formed, I hope, still hold true. I firmly believe, even tak- ing into account what was said, or rather, what was not said by Marlene, that PD should run by those principles." Farrugia said that her election on the 10th district – a tradi- tional PN stronghold that in- cludes Sliema, St Julian's, Gzira and Pembroke – shows that core Nationalist voters were disillusioned by the PN and that the old division lines between PN and PL voters have now be- come more blurred. "The core PN district chose a person with Labour roots and centre-left beliefs, who used to be part of the PL, and who comes from the south of Malta. "It's clear that core National- ist voters had problems with the PN as it was before this elec- tion and that they, too, wanted a change in the way politics is done. They liked the concept of a National Force, they liked my ideology and they liked the way I conducted myself in Parlia- ment and throughout the cam- paign." When asked why she thinks the PN-PD coalition failed, Farrugia said that the elector- ate had wanted to see a "much greater change" within the PN. "The PD did all it could but the PN was the major component of the coalition, and it now needs a complete overhaul from the ground up." She said she was optimistic that any new PN leader would be willing to work with her and the PD. "I've learned that with convic- tion and persuasion, one can build consensus. I don't imagine that the PN will elect a leader who won't place the national interest first so in that context I envision that I will be able to work with that person, come what may."