Environment Minister Miriam Dalli has defended the government consultancy role given to the 23-year-old granddaughter of President George Vella, saying she is "an alumni of the London School of Economics". 

Katrina Cuschieri was engaged by Dalli as a person of trust shortly after she returned from her studies in the UK. The story was first broken by The Shift News, which reported that she was earning €50,000 a year. 

Cuschieri is also the daughter of former MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri, who resigned in 2020 after Times of Malta had revealed he had flown to Las Vegas with casino owner Yorgen Fenech in 2018, with Fenech footing the bill. Fenech was subsequently charged with complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Asked on Friday about the appointment, Dalli contested the €50,000 figure, although she did not say how much the 23-year-old is being paid. 

"She is not only an economics graduate but she is also an alumni [sic] of the London School of Economics and I believe she has the qualities to contribute. The fact that she is a graduate in this aspect and the fact she's young and she has innovative ideas makes her a good addition to the team," Dalli said.

Unlike normal civil servants, persons of trust are political appointees tasked with working within ministers' private secretariats.  

Contracts awarded to persons of trust by the government have repeatedly made headlines in recent years, as the number of such individuals soared under the Labour government. 

Both the former standards commissioner George Hyzler and the Malta Employers’ Association have in the past called for more transparency by the government on the people it hired. 

Earlier in 2022, the Prime Minister's office confirmed it employs 44 persons of trust, after refusing for months to say how many people were employed on such a basis.