AFM soldiers appealing board decision receive €3,000 cheque

Soldiers and ex-soldiers waiting for an appeal decision from the AFM’s complaints-appeals board have received a cheque of €3,000.

The government has played down suggestions that the payment is somewhat linked to the general election campaign.

The AFM’s complaints board was set up to decide on injustices army personnel felt they had suffered in the past.

Following the board’s decision, some 128 filed an appeal, parliamentary questions from late 2024 show.

Many of those complaints centre around promotions that AFM personnel felt they deserved but did not receive.

Those who are still waiting on appeal received the €3,000 cheque in recent days via a letter dated April 24. The letter, signed by Home Affairs Ministry permanent secretary Joyce Dimech, said that appeal proceedings are nearing their end.

“In relation to this, it has been decided that due to the delay in concluding this appeals process, everyone who filed an appeal will be granted a one-time payment of €3,000.”

“This is not the decision regarding your appeal, which still has to be communicated by the specially appointed board,” the letter says.

Times of Malta asked the Home Affairs Ministry how many soldiers and ex-soldiers received the payment and whether the decision to compensate complainants with a cheque had anything to do with the upcoming general election on May 30.

Replying, a spokesperson for the ministry said the decision to pay €3,000 came following talks with the General Workers’ Union that represents the soldiers.

The €3,000 compensation was awarded to all who applied to the 2017 Injustice Board to address injustices suffered under previous AFM administrations, the ministry said.

The government had offered a one-time “final” €3,000 payment to some 700 Armed Forces of Malta personnel who had filed complaints over claimed injustices on the eve of the European Parliament elections in 2024.

Unlike this case, however, that offer was to settle any ongoing claims.