The snippet on page 4 entitled ‘Justice Ministry splashes out on 223 direct orders in six months’ (‘What made the headlines’, March 4) presents an unfair and distorted picture of reality.

It is not true that direct orders are the order of the day at the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government. Rather, public calls for tenders are prevalent while direct orders represent only a small fraction of our procurement.

In the field of culture or other related matters, direct orders in some cases tend to be the only solution for procuring such services rather than issuing public calls. This point had even been cleared and accepted in Public Account Committee meetings during the last legislature.

For example, imagine that a government entity decided to organise a concert with artist X being the main artist. If the decision was to bring artist X, that artist must be contracted on a direct order basis. It would be ungainly and in breach of public procurement regulations to issue a call for tenders with the aim to procure such services from a designated person/entity.

All direct orders are cleared with the Finance Ministry, at the Direct Orders Office.

Another point: the snippet contains gross misrepresentations. Ray Calleja is paid €42,000 per annum, not €126,000 per annum.

Comments are free, but facts are sacred.

Editorial note: The report (February 27), of which the snippet was a summary, was based on information that appeared on the Malta Government Gazette, including dates, the value of direct contracts and people/companies receiving public contracts. According to public procurement rules, direct orders should be limited to exceptional cases.