Former planning parliamentary secretary Deborah Schembri was given a direct order, worth just short of €30,000, in addition to a €126,000-contract for services to the Planning Authority.

According to data tabled in parliament earlier this week, Dr Schembri was engaged to provide Identity Malta's Citizenship Unit legal services, for which she was paid €29,925.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was answering a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina, said Dr Schembri was awarded the direct order at the end of last July.

She lost her seat in parliament in the June 2017 election.

Times of Malta reported last week Dr Schembri was engaged by the Planning Authority, a public entity she was responsible for as parliamentary secretary, and was paid €126,000 on August 11.

To provide Identity Malta’s Citizenship Unit legal services

Apart from the direct orders, she was also engaged to provide legal services to the Lands Authority, set up under her watch. According to an Infrastructure Ministry spokeswoman, however, no payments were issued to Dr Schembri in this case.

Parliament was also informed that sitting Labour MP Edward Zammit Lewis, a former tourism minister, was paid €12,000 last December 4 for legal consultancies “in relation with Identity Malta reforms”.

Payment was made just three days after he was engaged by the Lands Authority against a fee of €24,600. No call was made in relation to his appointment.

claire.caruana@timesofmalta.com