MALTA
Malta’s Principal Permanent Secretary has been given a second job, less than a week after claiming he “saw nothing wrong” with MPs being appointed to Government boards (see separate PSNews story).
Mario Cutajar’s new job, as a board member of Heritage Malta, boosts his annual pay by an additional €19,000 ($A31,000).
Apart from his membership of a Government board, which falls under the remit of another Permanent Secretary, Mr Cutajar (pictured) has also been given powers to act as an ‘executive director’, making him more powerful than the Chair of the board.
This situation, which does not exist in any other Government organisation or Agency, is also reflected in differentiated remuneration afforded to the other directors of Heritage Malta.
Chair, Anton Refalo receives a remuneration of €16,306 ($A26,500), compared to Mr Cutajar’s €19,000.
Senior Public Service officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Cutajar’s role conflicts with his duties as head of the country’s Public Service.
“It does not make sense for him to involve himself in another remunerated role which he is duty bound to supervise. This is unheard of,” the officials said.
A former Permanent Secretary – who also asked to remain unnamed – confirmed that until 2013, Permanent Secretaries who occupied positions on public boards only did so on those related to their Ministry and without extra remuneration.
“This was part and parcel of our job and Permanent Secretaries are paid and given extra allowances to dedicate their whole time to their job. The Principal Permanent Secretary is already the highest paid Civil Servant as it should be,” the former official said.
Valetta, 18 November 2019
