A legal advisor engaged by the Energy Ministry was paid an hourly rate of €170 per hour excluding VAT.
The adviser was engaged in connection with the establishment of a company to which Enemalta’s assets and liabilities were to be transferred.
The information emerged in the annual report by the National Audit Office, which also revealed that the legal advisor was engaged before the request for approval was submitted to the Finance Ministry, which cautioned the amount “was quite substantial and… could spiral out of control”.
Additional services acquired from the firm, which was not named in the report, were later acquired at a rate of €156 per hour.
Yet despite the Finance Ministry’s warning that its approval must be sought once the total cost of hours to be billed is known, the Energy Ministry ignored the instructions.
The NAO’s report was critical of weak internal controls in the ministry that undermined the efficiency of public spending. The legal advisor’s expenses were one example in a list of breaches of public procurement policies in the ministry led by Konrad Mizzi.
The report highlights an energy conference organised in July last year where the supplier of catering services was paid five times the amount originally quoted for a reception. The supplier was chosen for the cheapest offer. Yet a quote of €3,190 spiralled into a total invoice of €15,559.
This expense was only for catering at the reception and excluded any other cost related to the reception or main conference.
The NAO also criticised a direct order to a supplier engaged to provide lighting and multimedia equipment for the same reception, paying €6,571 excluding VAT.
“No evidence was available to justify the selection process, in terms of both the rate charged and services offered,” the report states, adding that matters were made worse when approval for the expenditure was granted retroactively.
Overtime costs last year for the 13 officers employed at the ministry “allowed to work extra hours in excess of their basic daily schedule” amounted to €82,784.
The overtime approved included driving responsibilities, as well as reception and customer care. This is against the Public Service Management Code, which states “overtime work should be resorted to only in exception circumstances”, the report notes.