Updated 9.40am with Il-Kollettiv statement
The Auditor-General has been asked to investigate how the government has reportedly granted a young lawyer close to the prime minister 11 separate jobs.
Independent election candidate Arnold Cassola, who made the request, said Ryan Pace, who ran Robert Abela's legal office, has just been made legal representative of Festivals Malta by direct order. The job will earn him €17,000 a year.
Pace, 31, already has another 10 jobs and directorships namely:
- Chairman, Malta Gaming Authority;
- Director, ARMS Limited;
- Director, Gozo Heliport Ltd;
- Director, Malta Government Investments Ltd;
- Director, Malta Investment Management Company Limited;
- Director, Malta Film Commission;
- Secretary, Engineering Resources Ltd;
- Secretary, Mediterranean Offshore Bunkering Company Ltd;
- Legal adviser, Malta Tourism Authority;
- Legal Adviser, Aġenzija Support
Cassola asked the auditor to establish whether these jobs were granted after public calls or direct orders; whether they constituted value for money, and whether it made sense for the country that the person running the prime minister's private legal office was also handed 11 jobs paid by the state.
Wouldn't it have been more productive for the country if these jobs were handed to other qualified people, he asked.
Cassola enclosed a copy of The Shift, which had reported on the matter.
Pace also close to GAP developer Paul Attard - Il-Kollettiv
In a statement, NGO Il-Kollettiv added that Pace had also represented developer Paul Attard of GAP Ltd in a case concerning a controversial development at Mellieħa Heights.
Attard had obtained a planning permit “in record time”, Il-Kollettiv said, noting that less than two months passed between the start of the application process in September and him obtaining a permit last month.
That permit allows Attard to build 109 apartments on a parcel of land he obtained from the Lands Authority.
Two days after the permit was issued, the prime minister said that he had instructed the Lands Authority to no longer issue such land to private developers for speculation.
“Robert Abela is clearly toying with Mellieħa residents,” Il-Kollettiv said. “On the one hand, he gives them false hope without saying he will take back the land; on the other, his protégé appears before a public authority on behalf of the private interests that go against the prime minister’s own directive.”
Il-Kollettiv said Pace’s many government appointments were further evidence of the close ties between the prime minister and developer, and asked if Abela had any interest in the Mellieħa project going ahead.
It also called for Pace to be removed from his taxpayer-funded positions, “given that his private practice goes against the interests of the public that pays his wages.”