The Nationalist Party has denounced the appointment as general manager at the Institute of Tourism Studies of a former permanent secretary who was forced to resign after green-lighting an abusive €15,000 contract to his minister’s partner.

Frank Fabri was moved out of his top post within the Education Ministry earlier this year, following a scandal which led to Education Minister Justyne Caruana resigning. 

On Friday, PN MP Justin Schembri said it was evident that the government had found ways to keep Fabri happy by giving him a paid job.

Times of Malta revealed on Thursday how Fabri had landed a job as general manager of the Institute for Tourism Studies training school and tasked with the implementation of the new ITS strategic plan launched last year.

The appointment comes eight months after Fabri was moved out of the Education Ministry. 

In December, Standards Commissioner George Hyzler concluded that a €5,000-a-month contract Caruana had awarded to her friend, former Malta footballer Daniel Bogdanovic, had breached the code of ethics.

The damning report found that while Bogdanovic had been paid to review the National Sports School, he had not written the report himself and repeatedly lied about this under questioning.

The commissioner also said that there was a “concerted effort to hide Bogdanovic’s incompetence” and that the work had actually been carried out by Paul Debattista, one of Caruana’s consultants.

The appointment was also criticised by the Union of Professional Educators which expressed concern that Fabri might replicate at ITS the negative legacy he left behind at the Education Ministry.

Addressing a press conference calling for more investment in education, Schembri said the government was keen on investing in people and institutions in inner circles rather than where it matters most like the University of Malta which was seeing its budget cut by around €1.1 million.

He said that instead, the government was continuing to invest in Barts School and the American University of Malta which are more than €20 million in debt.

Schembri referred to several pledges in the Labour electoral manifesto such as the extension of the one-tablet-per-child scheme, free internet for vulnerable families and the pledge to increase educators’ salaries. He said that none of these had yet seen the light of day.

The press conference was also addressed by PN MR Bernice Bonello.