As Edward Scicluna steps aside to defend his innocence in a high-profile fraud case, Central Bank deputy governor Alexander Demarco has taken the helm without a pay increase, the bank has confirmed.

Demarco remains on the same salary as he did throughout his tenure as a deputy governor with no additional benefits or perks.

“No alternative arrangements have been made to date,” a spokesperson said.

He told Times of Malta Demarco’s remuneration remains unchanged since his reappointment as deputy governor on January 1, 2024. 

Demarco will stand in for Scicluna who, last Tuesday agreed to step aside in face of fraud and misappropriation charges in relation to the Vitals hospitals case.

Scicluna is among dozens of former politicians, civil servants and others charged in connection with their alleged involvement in the fraudulent deal to privatise three hospitals.

He stepped aside from carrying out the functions of governor after facing pressure from Prime Minister Robert Abela. However, Scicluna,  whose term as governor expires in December 2025, will retain half his pay throughout his hiatus.

Asked to lay out the salary of deputy governors at the bank, the spokesperson declined, saying that “it is not the policy of the Central Bank of Malta to publish the salaries of the governors”. 

Joined Central Bank in 1984 

Demarco is a veteran of the bank, now entering his fourth decade with the central bank.

He was first made deputy governor in January 2014, initially put in charge of running the bank’s financial stability unit.

Three years later, he was named the bank’s deputy governor for monetary policy, leading its banking and financial markets divisions, among others.

Before being made deputy governor, Demarco found himself at the centre of a controversy, when then-communications minister Austin Gatt accused him of leaking confidential information to then-opposition leader Joseph Muscat.

Demarco, Gatt alleged, was acting as a consultant to the opposition, having reviewed a report for the Labour Party.

A series of internal probes cleared Demarco of any wrongdoing, finding Gatt’s accusations to be unfounded.

However, he was told off by a disciplinary committee which, in exonerating Demarco of the accusations, noted that he should have exercised more caution in the matter.

The affair led to a protracted row with then-Central Bank governor Michael Bonello. Demarco filed a judicial protest accusing Bonello of keeping the outcomes of the investigations exonerating him secret.

Bonello responded in kind, filing a counter-protest to rebut the accusations.