Former education ministry permanent secretary Frank Fabri is earning more than €80,000 a year in his new role as CEO of Aquatic Resources Malta.
According to his contract, provided to Times of Malta through a Freedom of Information request, Fabri has a total package of almost €82,500.
Set up in November of 2023 by the Fisheries Parliamentary Secretariat, the new entity is tasked with investing €10 million in research and innovation projects within the fishing and aquaculture sectors.
Announcing his post last month, the secretariat said Fabri specialised in education and management and held several posts - including director, director general and permanent secretary - within the Education Ministry. He was also the first general manager of the Institute of Tourism Studies' training school.
Fabri had resigned as permanent secretary in January of 2022, a month after then-education minister Justyne Caruana left her role following an ethics probe by the standards commissioner.
Before becoming permanent secretary in 2017, Fabri served in several roles within the education department, as a director-general. He was also mayor of Rabat.
Fabri was the subject of an internal civil service review that was assessing his role in a scandal concerning a €15,000 deal that he approved for the minister's friend, Daniel Bogdanovic.
An ethics probe into the deal found that Bogdanovic, a footballer, had not even written the report he was paid to draft himself, and then repeatedly lied about it when questioned. Fabri had signed off on the contract.
According to his three-year definite contract as CEO of Aquatic Resources Malta, Fabri is entitled to a basic salary of €47,000 this year, €47,800 next year and €48,600 in 2026. His contract runs until 21 February 2027.
Apart from his basic salary, he is entitled to a long list of additional benefits that shoot up his total remuneration package to over €82,000. These include €8,000 per year as an expense allowance, €1,800 per year for communication, €4,658 annually for a car and a 10% disturbance allowance. He will also get a 15% performance bonus as well as an additional 15% as an allowance for “research projects”.
The contract also stipulates that his contract will be immediately terminated “in the event of a change in government or the minister”, whereby he will return to his previous post in salary scale 2 with the pay and all the employment conditions attached to that grade.
The contract, which was signed by Sharlo Camilleri, the permanent secretary for the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry, binds Fabri to an unlimited confidentiality agreement on “any information which may come to his knowledge during the term” in office. He is also bound not to discuss the terms of his employment with anyone except the permanent secretary.