Former Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, a close political ally of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, has been given another government retainer, this time by the Water and Energy Ministry.
Dr Zammit Lewis, a lawyer by profession who failed to make it to Cabinet after the last general elections, has now been engaged by Energy Minister Joe Mizzi on a six-month contract for €4,333 a month.
Sources close to the Water and Energy Ministry told Times of Malta that the former minister was giving legal consultancy to Mr Mizzi on the direct recommendation of the Office of the Prime Minister.
Since failing to get a place in the Cabinet, Dr Zammit Lewis returned to his legal profession. However, he had already ended up making much more than the salary of a minister through government retainers.
His latest government contract follows other public ‘jobs’, paid handsomely.
€100 an hour excluding VAT for a maximum of 10 hours a week
Two months ago, Times of Malta reported that the former minister was put on a €100 an hour retainer by Identity Malta, which falls under the direct political remit of the Prime Minister.
According to the contract, seen by Times of Malta, Dr Zammit Lewis was engaged to provide legal consultancy to the government agency and paid “€100 an hour excluding VAT for a maximum of 10 hours a week”. The contract, asking Dr Zammit Lewis to contribute towards a reform of the agency, also allows him to claim any travel and accommodation costs abroad.
Prior to this contract, Dr Zammit Lewis was paid another €26,000 from Identity Malta “for professional legal consultancy fees”.
According to information given in Parliament a few days ago, Dr Zammit Lewis is also one of the consultants servicing the Lands Authority. No details were given on payments received from this authority, led by former Labour CEO James Piscopo.
Since Labour was returned to power in 2013, MPs who are not given a post in Cabinet are given other lucrative posts within government agencies or consultancies at various ministries.
All current Labour backbenchers are either serving in some agency or giving consultancy to State entities. In the majority of cases, the government’s backbenchers are raking in more income from the government than serving Cabinet members, including the Prime Minister.