Evarist Bartolo and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando present a joint Private Members Bill on Divorce in December 2010.The Education Minister has leapt to the defence of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando after The Sunday Times of Malta reported that the Malta Council for Science and Technology executive chairman only attended his office on Wednesdays and blamed the receptionist for giving the wrong information to the newspaper.
“I’m told that after the story appeared, the same receptionist apologised and said he was sorry for giving the wrong information,” Evarist Bartolo said when asked to react to Dr Pullicino Orlando’s absence from the MCST offices.
Last Sunday this newspaper revealed that despite earning almost €60,000 for his full-time job as MCST executive chairman, the former Nationalist MP only frequents his office on Wednesdays and is at his dental practice on the other days of the week.
Mr Bartolo, who is responsible for the MCST, said he had received an e-mail from the receptionist admitting he had given The Sunday Times of Malta the wrong information when he said that Dr Pullicino Orlando was only present at the MCST once a week.
“The information you published that Dr Pullicino Orlando only goes to MCST once a week is wrong. My information is that he [Pullicino Orlando] gave you information on how much time he spends at MCST but you decided not to publish it. I have documented evidence of this.” Asked to say who gave him this information and to provide it, Mr Bartolo said it came from Dr Pullicino Orlando himself.
Just 30 minutes after speaking with Mr Bartolo, Dr Pullicino Orlando yesterday sent an e-mail saying: “Since you seem to be taking a keen interest in the MCST, I would be more than happy to meet up with you and speak to you about all the initiatives we are engaged in. Feel free to organise a meeting with my PA, Ms Giselle Calleja (in copy).”
Being a full-time chairman does not mean he has to sit at his desk
In Sunday’s report, this newspaper carried Dr Pullicino Orlando’s written reaction in which he said he spent more than 40 hours a week on MCST-related work.
Dr Pullicino Orlando had added: “You will appreciate that certain work-related meetings cannot be organised at my office at Villa Bighi.”
He listed a number of people he said he had met during the week, including the Prime Minister, various ministers and heads of government agencies.
Asked to say if he felt it was acceptable that despite being paid almost €60,000 for a full-time job, Dr Pullicino Orlando still practised as a dentist five days a week, Mr Bartolo reiterated this was not the information he had.
Sarcastically remarking that Dr Pullicino Orlando must have a doppelganger, he said: “From experience I can vow that Dr Pullicino Orlando is truly committed to MCST and attends several meetings even when he is supposed to be at his dental clinic.”
Mr Bartolo also said that being a full-time chairman did not mean “he has to sit at his desk”.
“Nowadays, one can do a lot of work, even if not physically present at the office,” he added.
Mr Bartolo and the former PN MP have cooperated in the past. Both were members on the anti-divorce movement in 2010 and had co-signed the anti-divorce Bill when sitting on opposite sides as Members of Parliament.
When The Sunday Times of Malta called the MCST office posing as a client seeking to speak to Dr Pullicino Orlando, the receptionist had said it would be better to call his dental clinic as he was normally only at the MCST on Wednesdays. The receptionist also provided this newspaper with the phone number of the chairman’s private clinic.
When this newspaper followed up with a call to The Smile Centre in Żebbuġ, it was told that Dr Pullicino Orlando saw clients from Mondays to Saturdays every morning, except Wednesdays; he was also available in the afternoons every Mondays and Tuesdays.
On his part, Dr Pullicino Orlando said that despite taking over the executive chairmanship of MCST, he was still running his private practice as a dentist. However, he insisted he was only dong this “on a part-time basis.”
Dr Pullicino Orlando took over the post of executive chairman following the change of government when the contract of former CEO Nicholas Sammut was not renewed.
When contacted, Dr Sammut did not wish to comment on current MCST issues.
Asked to say how many hours he spent at the MCST office, Dr Sammut said: “When I was appointed CEO and vice chairman, I was full-time at MCST and I honoured the contract conditions in full.”