Former Labour minister and current MP Manuel Mallia is in a much better financial position than when he served in Joseph Muscat’s Cabinet, The Sunday Time of Malta can reveal.
Various political appointments since the last election are boosting his income by €100,000 a year. Following revelations by the Times of Malta last week that after he failed to make it to Cabinet Prime Minister Joseph Muscat gave Dr Mallia a part-time contract to provide legal services at the OPM for €56,000 a year, The Sunday Times of Malta has now discovered that Dr Mallia is also receiving nearly another €23,000 for acting as a non-executive chairman of a State entity.
Asked to give details on the remuneration package of Dr Mallia as chairman of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), a spokeswoman for the government told The Sunday Times of Malta that in his role, Dr Mallia is receiving an annual honorarium of €18,000 a year and an annual car allowance of €4,659 a year.
Added to the €21,000 honorarium which Dr Mallia receives as an MP as well as what he earns as a part-time legal consultant, being Dr Muscat’s person of trust, Dr Mallia’s income adds up to nearly €100,000.
Joseph Muscat hired Dr Mallia part-time for legal services at the OPM for €56,000 a year
Apart from his income, Dr Mallia was also given other benefits not normally offered to non-executive chairmen of government agencies.
According to the government, in his non-executive role as chairman of the OHSA, Dr Mallia is also allowed to employ a full-time personal assistant and a driver, both funded by the government.
The OHSA already employs a full-time CEO.
Dr Mallia, who for years was one of the closest political aides to former PN deputy leader Guido de Marco, switched political allegiances before the 2013 election and was consequently elected to Parliament on the Labour ticket.
He is considered by Labour insiders to be an important player in convincing many Nationalist voters to switch to Labour before the 2013 election.
He was given an important role in Dr Muscat’s first government, as Minister for National Security and Home Affairs, but he was soon sacked by the Prime Minister following his driver’s involvement in a shooting incident involving his ministerial car.
Dr Muscat tried to help Dr Mallia make a political comeback by giving him another ministerial post in 2016, but he only managed to to win a parliamentary seat through a casual election in the 2017 electon and was therefore not given a Cabinet post.
Dr Mallia is also considered to be the richest MP in his group.
According to his declarations of assets, he holds approximately €2 million in various investments and bank accounts, and owns seven properties, including one in Romania. Dr Mallia’s income from rent surpasses the €150,000 mark annually.
He is one of many Labour MPs who was given lucrative government jobs or contracts after last year’s elections.