The government is refusing to give details on how the Foreign Ministry is administering an annual €175,000 ‘cultural diplomacy fund’ aimed at promoting Malta’s culture abroad.
Foreign Ministry officials pointed out that since the appointment of Carmelo Abela as Foreign Minister, many organisations connected to his political constituency have been ‘sponsored’ through this fund.
Only last month, a large contingent of musicians from Żejtun’s Beland Band were flown to Rome which included a performance at one of the public audiences given by Pope Francis at St Peter’s Square.
“The Beland band tour was the largest sponsorship which the cultural diplomacy fund was ever used for,” senior officials said.
“Although there was nothing wrong in taking a whole band abroad, even though it costs a lot when considering the fund’s limited budget, it would be interesting to discover why and by whom this particular band club was selected,” the sources said.
Mr Abela, who together with his wife accompanied the band during their Rome visit, hails from and lives in Żejtun. He is elected from the Żejtun constituency, a traditional Labour stronghold, which elects other members of the current Cabinet who vie for the same pool of Labour voters.
Asked several times to state under which initiative funds were allocated for the band’s tour, how much taxpayers forked out on this initiative and what process was used to select the Żejtun band from among tens of other band clubs, the Foreign Ministry ignored questions.
Neither did the ministry give details on how many people, apart from the musicians, were sponsored for this trip.
This Beland Band’s tour was not the first Żejtun associated organisation benefitting from the cultural diplomacy fund.
Last June, Mr Abela announced the funding of the restoration of a set of six 18th century paintings housed in the Oratory of the Blessed Sacrament at the Żejtun parish church.
The restoration agreement was signed between the Foreign Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Fiona Formosa and Fr Nicholas Pace, Archpriest of Żejtun, in the presence of Mr Abela.
Just a month earlier, the Żejtun based choir ‘Capella Diacono’, originally founded by renowned composer Carlo Diacono – a former musical director of the Beland Band – were flown for three days to Athens, Greece, to perform a repertoire of Maltese sacred music.
The occasion, also sponsored by the cultural fund, was coordinated by the Maltese embassy in Athens and Mr Abela attended the concerts in the Greek capital.