VAT Commissioner given performance bonus despite controversy

The VAT Commissioner, whose department has been the subject of a number of controversies, has, for at least two years, received a performance bonus of almost €5,000.

A spokesman for the Finance Ministry justified this by saying Joseph Sammut helped implement a number of measures " to improve security and reduce the risk of fraud at the VAT Department".

The commissioner came under fire in an audit report that was published recently, 15 months after it was concluded in February 2010. It said the department was at grave risk of insider fraud due to lack of accountability.

The audit inquiry had been launched in the wake of a large scale police investigation into fraudulent practices by a number of staff members, which cost the department millions of euros.

Following the report's publication, there were calls for the top management of the department to resign and for the government to show action had been taken. Instead, the government justified giving Mr Sammut his performance bonuses. The government even went a step further: temporarily extending the commissioner's contract.

His contract expired at the end of March and, although there was a call for applications for similar posts in January, his office did not feature among them. The government said it would issue another call, including one for VAT Commissioner, " in the coming weeks".