Joseph Muscat has played down reports highlighting his €120,000 severance package as prime minister, noting that his payout was in line with those given to his predecessors.

In a Facebook post, Muscat highlighted payouts of €81,000 given to former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, €23,000 to former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and €255,000 to former top diplomat Richard Cachia Caruana as cases in point.

Muscat served as Opposition leader between 2008 and 2013 before leading Malta as prime minister from that date until he resigned under a pall of corruption allegations in early 2020.

His bank balance, which remained stable for much of his time in power, shot up by €191,000 in the year following his exit as prime minister, Times of Malta had revealed in May.

Muscat had at the time attributed the increase to his termination package and an inheritance.

The Office of the Prime Minister had refused to release details of that termination package, but was subsequently required to do so by the Data Protection Commissioner. Details of the package were published on Saturday by The Shift News.

In a Facebook post reacting to the publication, Muscat noted that his predecessors had also qualified for similar packages.

“Every prime minister, member of cabinet and Opposition leader who no longer occupies these roles qualifies for this compensation, which was created by a Nationalist government,” Muscat said.

The former Labour leader acknowledged that he had received a €120,128.40 termination deal and said he had renounced “transitional allowances” which he was also entitled to. He said that he had pocked just under €79,000 of that, with the €41,000 balance paid in tax. 

Muscat went on to list details which he said had not been reported.

Joseph Muscat likened packages to those given to Richard Cachia Caruana, Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil.Joseph Muscat likened packages to those given to Richard Cachia Caruana, Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil.

His predecessor as prime minister, Lawrence Gonzi, had received €81,636 in total, with just under €73,000 of that in the form of severance pay and the rest in transitional allowances, he said.

Gonzi served in cabinet for 10 years, first as a minister from 2003 to 2008, and then as prime minister from 2008 to 2013.

Simon Busuttil, who served as Opposition leader for four years, had received €23,371, Muscat said.

The former prime minister said the most significant termination package had gone to Richard Cachia Caruana, who served in several top roles throughout his political career but was not an elected official.

Cachia Caruana served as chief of staff to Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, was an adviser to Gonzi and represented Malta as its top diplomat to the EU before he was ousted following a parliamentary vote of no confidence in 2012.

According to Muscat, Cachia Caruana received severance pay of €179,931 tax-free, along with €36,453 in notice pay and €39,549 for unclaimed leave, for a total payment of €255,933.

Muscat also acknowledged that he had continued to receive his salary as a backbench MP in the months following his resignation as prime minister, saying Gonzi and Busuttil had also done so.

Muscat went on to quit parliament with a 90-second speech last October.

Current Opposition leader Bernard Grech said that it was "not acceptable" for Muscat to receive the severance pay and then have it kept secret.

"This is what Labour continues to do," he said. "It boasts that it is a government of the people, and then it steals millions as it did with electricity and water bills," he said. 

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