A Wasteserv director in the previous legislature received a travel allowance that had nothing to do with her being a Gozitan, Environment Minister Leo Brincat quoted the company as saying.

Mr Brincat was answering a parliamentary question by Anthony Agius Decelis who asked if the director (identified in previous media reports as Nationalist MP Marthese Portelli), who was being paid a benefit on the pretext of residing in Gozo but who had long declared in her website that she resided in Birkirkara, would be asked to refund the benefits she was not entitled to.

WasteServ had later said that the director’s fees and honorarium were not regulated by any contract but only on the basis of guidelines approved by the Nationalist government, Mr Brincat said.

The payment, issued by the then CEO, had been made over and above the director’s honorarium on the basis of the additional work that was expected of her.

Mr Brincat said it had not been established what kind of extra work the director had done. What was certain was that she had attended only one board meeting out of 11 held last year and had been excused for the other 10. She also missed two meetings held this year.