Noel Camilleri, former head of the government’s Treasury Department on Thursday confirmed in court that the official dealing with the approval of privileged MPs’ pensions did not agree that former judge and Labour MP Philip Sciberras was entitled to an MP’s pension and it was only after the intervention of the Attorney General that this second pension was granted.
Taking the witness stand in a libel case which the former judge has instituted against the Times of Malta, Mr Camilleri, at the time head of the Treasury, confirmed that there was an issue with the pension entitlement of the former MP.
He said that Joe Galea, the Treasury official dealing with the file, felt that Dr Sciberras did not qualify for a pension as he had not had the length of service required to be eligible.
Mr Camilleri said that at the time, Mr Galea kept insisting his position was based on a memo issued by former speaker Lawrence Gonzi and it was only after Parliament sought the advice of the Attorney General that the pension was issued.
Mr Camilleri said it was true that the Association of Former Members of Parliament had brought to the Treasury’s attention the case of Dr Sciberras, years after the former judge was past his pensionable age.
Mr Camilleri confirmed that apart from issuing the second pension to Dr Sciberras, after legal advice from the government’s chief lawyer, he was also given backdated arrears from when he was entitled for the privileged pension.
Asked by Stefan Frendo to quantify the amount of arrears given to Dr Sciberras, the former judge, who was defending his own case, objected, saying this did not form part of the case. However, the court, presided by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, ordered that this information would also be made available to the court.
Mr Camilleri said that although MPs normally applied through an application form for their second pension, in the case of the former judge, there was no such application. He was not in a position to say whether apart from his MP’s pension, Dr Sciberras was also receiving two other pensions – the ‘normal’ national insurance pension and a third pension reserved for members of the judiciary.
Last March, The Sunday Times of Malta reported that the former Labour MP was granted a privileged pension reserved for MPs despite the fact that the Treasury had objected that he had not served in Parliament for the required period of time.
Although Dr Sciberras turned 65 in 2010, the issue was only referred to the Treasury Department in 2013, soon after Labour was returned to power.
Following the AG’s advice, Dr Sciberras was given his second pension together with thousands of euros in arrears.
According to information published under the Freedom of Information Act, Dr Sciberras is receiving €7,178.28 annually in pension as a former MP, apart from his two other State pensions.