Clyde Caruana denies misleading parliament on Air Malta chief’s honoraria

Clyde Caruana has denied reports he misled parliament when saying Air Malta’s executive chair received no money for his role as a board member.

In a letter to the Speaker of the House, the Finance Minister reacted to a report in The Shift on the salary of Air Malta executive chair David Curmi.

According to documents obtained by the news site through a freedom of information request, Curmi is being paid €21,500 a month for his dual role as executive chairman.

The Shift claimed that this new information contradicted a parliamentary reply given by Caruana in which he said Curmi was not being paid.

However, in his letter to Speaker Anġlu Farrugia, the minister insisted the parliamentary question had been about board members and their honoraria.

Caruana insisted Curmi received no honoraria for his role as a board member on Air Malta and thus his parliamentary reply was not misleading. However, the minister said Curmi was paid for running the company, which was not part of the question.

The minister did not say what Curmi’s wage is and neither did he deny reports the former Chamber of Commerce president had a three-year contract worth €258,000 a year.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party accused Caruana of lying on Curmi’s wage and asked the Standards Commissioner to investigate the minister’s behaviour.

PN MPs Jerome Caruana Cilia, Ivan J. Bartolo and Robert Cutajar said this incident cast doubt on the minister’s integrity and the veracity of his statements.