Former footballer Daniel Bogdanovic was paid one payment of €5,000 before his three-month €15,000 contract with the Education Ministry was rescinded by Prime Minister Robert Abela, Times of Malta has learnt. 

It remains unclear whether this money has been refunded to the state. 

Bogdanovic had been granted a €15,000 direct order to provide a three-month review of sports curricula in the national sports college by the Education Ministry, despite being a close acquaintance of minister Justyne Caruana. 

Soon after the contract was exposed by the media, Abela said he had rescinded the contract once he found out about it.

But in a recent notice in the Government Gazette, the full contract is listed among a list of direct orders issued by the Education Ministry earlier this year. This prompted media reports highlighting the fact the contract was listed despite it being cancelled by Abela. 

When contacted about this and why it was listed when the prime minister had publicly stated it had been rescinded, a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister said that "once brought to his attention, the contract for service of Bogdanovic was immediately terminated on March 23, following which no payments were made".

"Prior to the Prime Minister's decision, only one payment had been already effected. The Government Gazette is in fact referring to the total value of the contract and not of the actual effected payment.

"Therefore, reports claiming that Bogdanovic has been paid the maximum value of the contract, that is €15,000, are completely untrue," the spokesperson said. 

The OPM did not say whether the payments already paid to the former footballer have been refunded. Times of Malta has contacted OPM once again asking for clarifications.