The Education Minister has leapt to the defence of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando after The Sunday Times of Malta reported that the Malta Council for Science and Technology executive chairman only attended his office on Wednesdays and blamed the receptionist for giving the wrong information to the newspaper.
“I’m told that after the story appeared, the same receptionist apologised and said he was sorry for giving the wrong information,” Evarist Bartolo said when asked to react to Dr Pullicino Orlando’s absence from the MCST offices.
Last Sunday this newspaper revealed that despite earning almost €60,000 for his full-time job as MCST executive chairman, the former Nationalist MP only frequents his office on Wednesdays and is at his dental practice on the other days of the week.
Mr Bartolo, who is responsible for the MCST, said he had received an e-mail from the receptionist admitting he had given The Sunday Times of Malta the wrong information when he said that Dr Pullicino Orlando was only present at the MCST once a week.
Read more in Times of Malta.