Mgr Joe Vella Gauci

The Gozo Ministry has engaged a raft of consultants since Labour returned to power in 2013, with most being given handsome salaries and perks in order to give advice ranging from the still unpublished ‘Gozo road map’ to regional economic policy and the construction of a  cruise liner terminal.

The Sunday Times of Malta has obtained access to the lucrative contracts offered by the Gozo Ministry following a decision by the Data Protection Commissioner.

While the ministry refused various requests under the Freedom of Information Act to publish the contracts, the Data Protection Commissioner ordered it to give access to this newspaper as “the public interest is certainly better served by providing The Sunday Times of Malta full access to the requested documents”.

Joe Debono Grech

A close look at the contracts shows that while some of the consultants have already moved to new pastures, others have re-dimensioned their role to either part-time status or unpaid advisors.

While managing on a full time-basis the government’s lucrative cash-for-passports scheme, Identity Malta’s executive chairman Joe Vella Bonnici is also finding the time to give 10 hours a week of advice on industrial policy to the Gozo Ministry. He is paid an extra €10,000 a year for this part-time job.

The former archpriest of the Gozo Cathedral, Mgr Joe Vella Gauci, is also giving advice to Gozo Minister Anton Refalo on a part-time basis while acting as Malta’s Ambassador to Unesco.

Seventy-seven-year-old former Labour minister Joe Debono Grech is giving Dr Refalo advice on Gozo Channel for 20 hours a week. However, instead of receiving a salary, he is compensated through a fully expensed car and a driver.

Originally, the former minister was joined by former Gozo Channel chairman Joseph Grech. However the latter resigned for “personal reasons” just a few months after his appointment, according to a note in his contract.

Grezzju Mercieca

A full-time economics university lecturer, Rose Marie Azzopardi, is also working as a full-time consultant with the Gozo Ministry giving advice on regional economic policy. She hails from Gozo and is being paid almost €50,000 a year for this job.

Some of Dr Refalo’s advisors have moved on since their appointment.

Frank Psaila, the former permanent secretary to Nationalist Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, was engaged as Dr Refalo’s right hand-man at his ministry only two days after the election.

However, the 70 year-old former civil servant did not renew his €45,000 a year-contract the following year.

Lawyer Joe Mifsud stopped giving his 25-hour-a-week consultancy as soon as he was appointed a magistrate, also serving in the Gozo courts. He had been advising the ministry on niche tourism markets and civil society decision making for €24,000 a year.

The former president of the Labour Party in Gozo, Grezzju Mercieca, was also engaged as a full-time consultant on a €50,000 a year contract on the implementation of the Gozo road map.

He resigned last year to be appointed a court attorney in Malta and is now expected to be nominated by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici as a magistrate.

Sources close to the Gozo Ministry told this newspaper that most of the consultants were recommended through orders from the Office of the Prime Minister.

*Resigned

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com