Local Government Minister José Herrera has confirmed that the company awarded a €19,000 direct order to provide personal security at his home in Lija at the turn of the year is owned by a former client of his.

However, he has rejected the suggestion that this posed a conflict of interest, saying he had no real choice.

“There are around a dozen security companies and in the last seven or eight years nearly all of them have made use of my legal firm,” he said yesterday.

“Malta is a small place and it is not possible to exclude or include anybody,” the minister said in reply to questions from Times of Malta.

The controversial order came to light a few days ago in the Government Gazette which listed two government direct orders of €9,525 each awarded to a security company by the name of Protection Services Malta Ltd.

The company is owned by Jason Pisani who in 2005 had appointed Herrera as defence counsel in a criminal case in which he was accused of assaulting a Liberian man.

Pisani, who at the time was a member of the Armed Forces of Malta, was not found guilty.

It is not possible to exclude or include anybody

While pointing out he was satisfied with the quality of the service provided, the minister said that the decision to select this particular company was left in the hands of his secretariat. Herrera sought to beef up security around his home at the height of the political crisis which led to the departure of Joseph Muscat from prime minister.

The service covered the period between December 16, 2019 and January 15, 2020.

However, the minister has declined to specify the circumstances which led him to believe he faced some sort of threat or why he had not sought the assistance of the police force instead of a private security firm.

The personal security was stopped when Robert Abela took over the government.

'A precautionary measure'

A few days ago, Herrera said the decision was not the result of any specific threat but a precautionary measure to ensure that his security as a member of cabinet was handled in a professional manner and avert any unwarranted situations which could rise.

Asked if such concerns were linked to a highly charged six-hour cabinet meeting held on November 28, Herrera would neither confirm nor deny the matter.

Inside that meeting, cabinet members reportedly clashed during a heated debate on allegations that former chief of staff Keith Schembri had tried to pin Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder on then economy minister Chris Cardona by means of a letter. 

Though Schembri denied those claims, Times of Malta reported that during the meeting there had been calls to arrest him.

Herrera said it was public knowledge that it was a tense meeting but insisted he was bound not to divulge what was said.

As for the decision not to involve the police, the minister said he followed the advice given by his secretariat while pointing out that recruiting police officers instead of private security would still have come at a cost.