Phyllis Muscat’s contract as the head of the CHOGM taskforce on a position of trust basis expired at the end of last month.

Ms Muscat confirmed to the Times of Malta that her job with CHOGM has now come to an end.

She was responsible for coordinating the 2015 Commonwealth meeting in Malta as well as the Valletta summit and placed on the highest salary scale in the civil service.

Her appointment was first announced by the government in November 2013 and made effective January 1, 2014. It was heavily criticised due to her lack of diplomatic and political experience. Ms Muscat’s background is in the cosmetics industry, where she has set up several businesses.

Ms Muscat received a salary of €40,000 and an €8,000 yearly allowance, free mobile phone use up to €815 and a car allowance of €4,600. Staff were kept at the CHOGM unit to wrap up “administrative matters” following the November Commonwealth and EU-Africa summits.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that Ms Muscat’s contract was extended until the end of March in order to conclude the relevant audits and accounts.

Complaints were rife about the slow payments to suppliers and other stakeholders who had done work for the summits.

She reassured that CHOGM abided by procurement regulations and paid for services accordingly.

“Any delays could have resulted from the fact that there are strict procedures to ensure full transparency in the processing of payments,” Ms Muscat said.

One of the delays involved the supply of 400 costumes made by inmates for the CHOGM opening ceremony. The order for the costumes was handled by Mary Grace Pisani, who runs the Love, Faith, Forgiveness project, which uses inmates to make costumes and curtains for private clients.

The inmates were owed €16,000 for work they have been doing since last year, with the majority of the arrears blamed on slow payments from CHOGM. They have since been paid most of the money owed to them.

The project is supported by the Marigold Foundation, which is chaired by the Prime Minister’s wife Michelle Muscat.

jacob.borg@timesofmalta.com