Gonzi kept personal assistant’s 2008 salary raise under wraps

A salary raise to Lawrence Gonzi's head of secretariat in 2008 was not disclosed in a parliamentary question made to the prime minister in 2010 on how much Edgar Galea-Curmi was earning.

Gonzi increased Galea Curmi's salary from Scale 3 of the civil service salary scale to Scale 2, equivalent to over €33,000 back in 2008, but failed to inform Parliament when he was asked directly in a 2010 PQ.

Apart from a salary increase, in 2008 Galea Curmi also had his €2,795 expense allowance increased to €6,000, which however was only paid to him in 2012, ostensibly in a lump sum, because it was never paid to him in  the preceding years.

In a memo sent to the Principal Permanent Secretary on 18 July 2008, Gonzi justified the raise by explaining that Galea Curmi had held the post of Head of Secretariat within the ministries under his portfolio for over ten years. "He led the Ministry for Social Policy and the Office of the Prime Minister ably and conscientiously, often going beyond the call of duty. His efforts have been crucial to the positive change that both ministries have brought about to our country," Gonzi wrote. "In view of his long and commendable service, I hereby approve that his contract be upgraded to include the package at salary Scale 2."

The order came just weeks after Gonzi's decision in May 2008 to increase his ministers' salaries by €500 a week, which was revealed by MaltaToday in November 2008.

It now transpires that the change in scale was neither reflected in the Nationalist administration's guidelines, issued in December 2012, nor in a reply which Gonzi gave in Parliament in May 2010.

In 2010, Labour MP Justyne Caruana asked PM Gonzi for information on individuals employed within his secretariat, their salaries and any perks which they enjoyed. Listing the names and positions, Gonzi referred Caruana to employees' contracts that had already been tabled in Parliament back on 4 June 2008 - 14 days before Galea Curmi's raise.

"The contracts of all workers conform with the Guidelines for the Engagement of Staff in Ministers' Private Secretariats approved by the Cabinet and tabled in the House on 4 June," Gonzi replied.

According to this document - dated October 2007 and available online in the 'papers laid' section of Parliament's website - the Head of Gonzi's Secretariat enjoyed a salary Scale 3.

Attempts by this newspaper to contact Lawrence Gonzi for comments have proven futile.

The new Labour administration has come under fire for having raised the salary scales of the government's top aides, translating to an increase of some €3,000 a year on their basic salaries.

Defending the raise and that of his chief of staff Keith Schembri, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in Parliament that Schembri's financial package would cost government 10% less than that given to his predecessor, Galea Curmi. Muscat insisted in Parliament that Galea Curmi was "paid a lot more" than stipulated in the Engagement of Staff for Ministers' Secretariats guidelines of the previous legislature.

The new salary packages paid to secretarial staff have followed those paid in the previous legislature.

The new structure differs, however, as the new Chief of Staff has replaced the Head of Secretariat and upgraded from Scale 4 to Scale 3. The raise is owed to the establishment of the Strategic and Priorities Unit.