“I am not going to let anybody deprive you of your work. I promise you, I will continue to attract more work to our country, to create more jobs for Maltese and Gozitans. We will not abandon you, we protect your work, we are the guarantee of your employment, we gave you stability, peace of mind that you’ll work all year round, with us everybody benefits.”
This wasn’t the prime minister. This was the megalomaniacal film commissioner, Johann Grech.
Grech was head of government marketing under the disgraced Joseph Muscat between 2013 and 2017. He was one of Muscat’s inner circle. And it shows.
In a shameful partisan video uploaded on his personal Facebook bearing the official Malta Film Commission logo, Grech mounted a hostile assault on government critics.
Times of Malta revealed that Grech’s film commission handed €47 million to the producers of Gladiator II. Another €143 million of taxpayers’ money were given in cash rebates to foreign film companies. In contrast, local film producers shared €1.5 million between them.
Grech has a long history of profligacy with taxpayers’ funds. He’s squandered hundreds of millions. He handed out over €2 million in direct handouts in just three months. He spent hundreds of thousands on his own travel. He’s fought tooth and nail to keep his lavish spending secret, rejecting multiple freedom of information requests. For months, he refused to divulge the cost of the Malta Film Awards. He’s still fighting rulings by the data protection commissioner to hand over David Walliams’ invoices to the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.
He’s faced accusations of “corruption” to favour a small group of film producers. The Malta Producers Association demanded his resignation. They submitted a formal complaint to the Ombudsman’s Office. They filed a judicial protest for his removal. “Any meaningful investigation cannot take place until he’s removed, every day that passes is another day when corruption goes unchecked and impunity continues to reign supreme,” they commented.
So, when Grech’s multi-million spending spree on foreign film companies leaked, local filmmakers were incensed. The whole country was appalled.
Grech retaliated by issuing a threatening, scaremongering video, ruthlessly attacking those who dared criticise him. “This is an attack on our country,” he declared. Grech thinks he is the State, that he owns Malta. This is Labour’s legacy – Grech, Marvin Gaerty, Frederick Azzopardi, Johann Buttigieg, Carmen Ciantar, Joseph Cuschieri, Kurt Farrugia, Norma Saliba – a bunch of arrogant, entitled, unelected political appointees damaging the country beyond repair while under the delusion that, without them, the world will stop turning.
Grech attempted to intimidate his critics into silence. “An attack intended to scare away investment from our country, an attack on Maltese and Gozitan jobs in the film industry,” he accused. “Whoever speaks against the cash rebate is speaking against your jobs, against your future. Instead of having a job, you’ll be registering for work, instead of more film business, you’ll be out of business,” he warned.
“My message is one of unity, because disunity never led us anywhere; we shouldn’t have one section or the population against another. We are all Maltese,” he pompously announced.
Johann Grech has a long history of profligacy with taxpayers’ funds
Grech is no politician, no elected official, no government spokesperson. Yet, his arrogance is staggering: “This government is determined to strengthen the film industry, determined to invest more, we will keep working to see you succeed and together we’ll create more wealth.” Grech shouldn’t be making decisions as to fund allocation. Yet, he feels he can speak for the government, for the country. He knows he’s untouchable.
In February 2020, Grech decided to cull 15 well-established companies from the list of registered production companies provided to foreign filmmakers. His list only included seven companies which weren’t listed alphabetically, as in previous lists. At the top was Halo Pictures Ltd, co-owned by the previous film commissioner, Engelbert Grech.
Grech’s list wasn’t published on the Malta Film Commission website. It was kept secret, only provided to foreign film-makers on request. The excluded 15 companies ended up losing work with international companies working in Malta. Everybody benefits?
Enraged, the Malta Producers Association filed a judicial protest for Grech’s removal. They asked the ombudsman to investigate Grech. They met then minister Julia Farrugia Portelli on March 9, 2020. “The minister agreed things had been wrongly done and understood Grech would need to be suspended pending an investigation.”
No investigation was held.
“There is enough evidence in the public domain to warrant his dismissal,” the association insisted.
But Grech stayed put.
In July 2022, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo reappointed Grech for another three years, weeks after the exorbitant €1.3 million cost of the Malta Film Week was made public.
The allocated budget for the Malta Film Week was €400,000. Grech massively overspent. For months, he hid the cost. Times of Malta asked him seven times about its cost. He replied “it will provide value for money”. His film commission rejected three FOIs: by Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation. If Grech’s so convinced of his massive contribution to the economy, why the secrecy?
Grech spent over €600,000 on travel in just two years, 10 times his predecessor. On one trip alone, Grech spent €47,000 on flights, €5,000 on hotel bills and another €4,000 in subsistence. In 2019, he spent €30,000 on dinners, taxis and other ‘necessities’ abroad. He spent €14,000 on a self-promoting article on Forbes magazine with a huge photo of himself.
He falsely accrued 64 credits on a popular online movie database IMDB. “This gives the false impression that he worked on many film sets when in reality he hasn’t worked a single day on a film set,” film industry sources commented. When Times of Malta asked Grech how he was credited when other national commissioners aren’t, he simply refused to reply.
Grech is angry. He’s resorting to threats and intimidation to suppress public scrutiny. He believes you have no right to know how much of your money he’s frittering away. You have no right to question Grech. That’s “an attack on our country”.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.