All the members of former home affairs minister Manuel Mallia’s private secretariat have been retained on the government payroll, albeit in different roles, the Times of Malta has learned.

According to ‘Engagement of staff for ministers’ secretariats’, issued by the Office of the Prime Minister in March 2013, members of private secretariats who are not civil servants should not continue to serve in the government when their minister goes.

However, all the 19 individuals employed by Dr Mallia from outside the public service are still receiving a government salary more than a year after he was fired after a controversy involving one of his drivers.

Dr Mallia’s former chief of staff, Silvio Scerri, is employed in the private secretariat of Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela and is performing specific duties in Gozo. Former private secretary Quinton Scerri is working at PBS and the former communications coordinator, Ramona Attard, has a consultancy contract within the communications office of the Prime Minister.

Dr Mallia’s ex-driver and a very close aide, former top footballer Joe Galea, known as l-Olandiż, was also retained and now works as an ambulance driver on a position of trust basis.

The March 2013 rules, which form part of the new code of ethics for Cabinet members, state that those employed from outside the public service
have to resign when their minister no longer forms part of the government. They are given a maximum of six months’ salary as termination benefits