Edward Scicluna is the top earning Cabinet member, with an annual income in 2014 of €188,500 and monetary assets worth €815,000.
He takes the spot from Manuel Mallia, who was the top earner until he resigned as home affairs minister last December.
In 2013, Dr Mallia recorded annual earnings of €227,000 and various holdings worth almost €2.1 million.
In terms of earnings alone, in 2014 Gozo Minister Anton Refalo climbed to second place followed by Deputy Prime Minster Louis Grech.
On the other hand, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo can be considered as the ‘poorest’ Cabinet member with savings totalling a modest €8,000 and no income from properties or investments.
According to the 2014 declaration of assets tabled in Parliament last Wednesday, ministers earn a salary of around €58,800 excluding benefits.
Parliamentary secretaries earn slightly less, receiving a gross salary of €4,700 a month.
The Prime Minister earns €65,000 as head of government and registered a marginal increase in his bank deposits which rose to €75,000.
Though Cabinet members are not permitted to boost their income through private practice, they may have other streams of revenue from return on investments and property dealings.
Prof. Scicluna recorded the highest income with €188,510 mainly due to “unearned” revenue of €121,051 from dividends, interest and pensions. Prof. Scicluna also ranked first among the 23-strong Cabinet when it came to bank deposits and other investments with €815,000 in savings, of which €488,000 were deposits in various bank accounts.
The Gozo Minister, whose declaration two years ago had raised eyebrows, this time around included revenue from various leases of his 24 properties, which brought in revenue of €13,500.
In addition he also received €23,300 as part of the second instalment on the sale of a property, and a further €7,400 from judicial taxes of years gone by. His annual income in 2014 including his wife’s €20,000 salary totalled €122,500 and, at second highest, was over three times what he declared in 2012.
In some cases Cabinet members have gone into great detail and even listed €6 interest earned from bank deposits
That year Dr Refalo had declared no income from his properties and just €6,000 from his legal profession, as at the time he could still work as a lawyer being an Opposition MP.
He had also declared having a loan of €830,000, raising further questions on the repayment terms in light of the modest earnings he declared.
Two years down the line his loan has gone down to €781,000 with the Gozo Minister this time around specifying that he was paying monthly instalments of €2,250.
As for his bank deposits, these have plummeted drastically from €39,000 in 2012 to €4,000 last year.
Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech in 2014 declared an income of around than €100,000 which included his MEP pension, the government pension and a private one. His monetary assets amounted to €394,000.
While the annual income of the rest of the Cabinet members ranged between €60,000 to €100,000, sharp discrepancies emerged in their bank savings and assets.
Foreign Minister George Vella declared €198,000 worth of government bonds, and an additional €127,000 in private bonds. His monetary assets totalled €429,000 including €65,000 which he loaned at no interest to a family member. His savings rank as the second highest in Cabinet.
Though Economy Minister Chris Cardona declared deposits in excess of €710,000, savings on his name only amounted to €84,000 with the rest belonging to his Ukrainian wife.
Among the new entrants in the list following last year’s reshuffle triggered by the appointment of Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca as President and the resignation of Godfrey Farrugia as health minister, the one who stands out is Michael Falzon.
The Sliema lawyer, who is now Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, has €500,000 in deposits, including €260,000 which he bagged after taking up an early retirement scheme from Bank of Valletta where he worked in the legal office. At the bottom of the list was Education Minister Evarist Bartolo who had just €8,000 in three bank accounts and an additional income of €3,400 as a university lecturer.
As ever, these declarations give rise to a great degree of inconsistency. In some cases Cabinet members have gone into great detail and even listed €6 interest earned from bank deposits, such as Mr Bartolo, while others merely listed lump sums or listed various investments without quantifying their worth.
Other discrepancies included some ministers failing to declare the earnings of their spouse, such as Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi whose wife earns €13,000 a month as special envoy in China.
How they rank
1. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna
| 2012 | 2014 | Diff | |
| Income | No details | €188,500 | |
| Monetary assets | €604,000 | €815,000 | +€211,000 |
| Properties | 1 | 1 | |
| Loans | none | none |
2. Foreign Minister George Vella
| 2012 | 2014 | Diff | |
| Income | €66,000 | €99,300 | +€33,300 |
| Monetary assets | €350,000 | €428,900 | +€78,900 |
| Properties | 2 | 2 | |
| Loans | none | none |
3. Deputy PM Louis Grech
| 2012 | 2014 | Diff | |
| Income | No details | €100,500 | N/A |
| Monetary assets | €416,000 | €394,300 | -€21,700 |
| Properties | 2 | 2 | |
| Loans | none | none |
4. Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi
| 2012 | 2014 | Diff | |
| Income | €54,000 | €76,000 | +€22,000 |
| Monetary assets | €315,000 | €310,300 | -€4,700 |
| Properties | 1 | 2 | |
| Loans | none | €329,900 |
5. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
| 2012 | 2014 | Diff | |
| Income | €42,000 | €64,800 | +€22,800 |
| Monetary assets | €70,000 | €75,000 | +€5,000 |
| Properties | 1 | 1 | |
| Loans | none | none |
6. Gozo Minister Anton Refalo
| 2012 | 2014 | Diff | |
| Income | €45,000* | €122,500* | +€77,500 |
| Monetary assets | €39,000 | €4,000 | -€35,000 |
| Properties | 24 | 24 | |
| Loans | €830,000 | €781,200 | +€48,800* |
* includes wife’s income