When Michael Falzon became a parliamentary secretary in April 2014 he declared an income from Bank of Valletta of almost €40,000 even though he had only worked for the bank for just three months during that year.

BOV employees who contacted this newspaper raised questions over Dr Falzon’s declared income in 2014 as they argued that those three months of his bank remuneration should have amounted to much less than €40,000.

“Did BOV give Dr Falzon some kind of extra payments apart from his usual remuneration?” they asked. Various attempts made by this newspaper to get an explanation proved unsuccessful. And despite various questions and reminders, Dr Falzon did not explain why he declared earning €40,000 in three months from BOV when this should have been under €20,000.

BOV is also remaining silent, citing “confidential information”. “We are sure you will understand that we cannot share such information with the media,” was BOV’s response when it was asked to explain.

While as a parliamentary secretary Dr Falzon is only entitled to his salary, as an MP and BOV employee he could still keep earning two. This, according to his income tax returns, accounted for an average income of more than €96,000, or €30,000 more than what he started earning upon becoming a parliamentary secretary.

With a salary of just €56,605 a year as a parliamentary secretary and the automatic loss of income as an MP, Dr Falzon found himself in a much worse financial situation than as a BOV employee. However, the situation changed through the €260,000 “unique” early retirement package granted to him by the bank soon after his appointment. Through this move, Dr Falzon will now be recouping lost ground.

Although BOV granted a total of 117 early retirement packages to its former employees in the last five years, Dr Falzon is the only one who was given the possibility to return to his job if and when he decides to quit his political post.

Both BOV and Dr Falzon refused, when asked, to provide details on Dr Falzon’s financial package as a bank employee. However, following a request according to the Income Tax Act, this newspaper has established that as an executive head, Dr Falzon was entitled to an income of around €70,000 a year.

Dr Falzon’s own income tax confirms that in the years before becoming a parliamentary secretary, he was earning much more than he would have earned with just the salary of a parliamentary secretary. However, the early retirement grant changed the whole scenario.

Income declared in euros