The Standards Commissioner has raised concern on the submissive attitude adopted by Malta Tourism Authority top brass with respect to the controversial Konrad Mizzi consultancy job.
“It seems that both the chairman [Gavin Gulia] and the CEO [Johann Buttigieg] took no action to safeguard the law and public funds and consequently they did not shoulder their responsibility to the full. In order to maintain high standards in public life persons in such positions must not bow their head to everything,” commissioner George Hyzler remarked.
This point was raised in the conclusions of an investigation into a three-year contract to the tune of €80,000 per year which Mizzi had landed in December last year, just a fortnight after he was forced to resign as tourism minister.
The contract was rescinded less than two months later after it was revealed by Times of Malta, by which time Joseph Muscat had resigned as prime minister.
From this probe, it transpired that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had ordered the MTA to recruit Mizzi on these specific terms. Muscat’s conduct was deemed by the Standards Commissioner as constituting abuse of power, in breach of the law and various provisions of the ministerial code of ethics.
Although, by law, the commissioner could not investigate the MTA CEO and chairman as they did not fall under his remit, he, nonetheless, expressed deep concerns on the manner in which they had handled the issue.
Hyzler noted that as soon as the CEO received the instructions to engage Mizzi, he should have referred the matter to the chairman to seek his direction.
“If the CEO did not inform the chairman on the prime minister’s instruction, he rendered himself an accomplice in nullifying the MTAs board which was supposedly loyal to him,” the commissioner remarked.
“If on the other hand [Buttigieg] did inform the chairman, but the latter took no action, it means that the chairman did nothing to sustain the board’s position. It seems he was happy not be involved as long as he would not have to shoulder responsibility,” Hyzler added.
The commissioner pointed out that Gulia did not specify when he had learned about Mizzi’s contract, but it seems he took no action when its existence was revealed.
In his conclusion, the commissioner said that Muscat exceeded his power both on the merits of the contents of the instruction itself, which circumvented the MTA board, as well as the procedure adopted as such post should have been filled through a public call.
Questions were also raised on the “generous” conditions of employment offered to Mizzi as contrary to the norm, such as there was no mention of the number hours of work per week nor his responsibilities.
In his submissions, the former prime minister justified his decision saying having Mizzi as an MTA consultant would ensure continuity given that Mizzi had just resigned as tourism minister. The commissioner, however, shot down this argument, saying this was the responsibility of the respective officials within the ministry, MTA and Air Malta.
Once again, Hyzler called on the government to stop the practice of employing government MPs on public board or entities, as a form of “consolation prize” whenever they miss out on a place in Cabinet.