George Abela to get a ‘Presidential Guard’

President George Abela is set to have a presidential guard that will parade in St George’s Square, Valletta, and perform a daily ceremony of the changing of the guard as of September.

Thousands of euros have reportedly been committed for brand new uniforms that will be worn by the AFM platoon that will guard the President’s Palace in Valletta, MaltaToday has learnt.

The news comes just days after MaltaToday raised questions into the way the Palace was handling recruitment of personnel and administering State finances.

President Abela himself admitted during an unprecedented press conference two weeks ago that the Community Chest Fund had employed Fabian Mizzi and Noel Pace, both directors of ‘Image 2000’ a beleaguered production company of which the president’s press secretary Marica Mizzi is also company secretary.

Marica Mizzi is still hanging on to her job, despite having fabricated an allegation on a leakage of documents to MaltaToday that led to a wild goose chase inquiry by Castille.

Mizzi’s allegation prompted George Abela to publicly ‘dump’ Olaph Terribile -  his former most senior aide - and declared his “lost faith” in him.

Abela’s declaration was based on the sole premise that what Marica Mizzi told him was true.

The inquiry, headed by former cabinet secretary Alfred Fiorini Lowell convened again this morning to hear one last witness: Olaph Terribile, the same man the Palace has chosen to target as the clear scapegoat for the alleged irregularities. (See also adjacent story)

President Abela admitted that it was he who asked the Head of the Civil Service Godwin Grima to have Olaph Terribile removed from his post.

Issues at the Palace had been brewing for a couple of weeks as Terribile clashed with other aides to the President who had no experience in the civil service.

He is understood to have insisted with other staff members who don’t have any experience in the civil service to ‘get their act together’ and not to put the Presidency into jeopardy.

The finance ministry had reportedly issued a series of warnings to the Office of the Presidency over ‘financial regulations’ to be followed “at all times”, in a clear reference to a series of purchases that were recently made by the Palace.

Despite pledges on ‘absolute transparency’ the Office of the President has continually ignored all requests for information about staff salaries and other expenses by this paper, while phone calls, emails and text messages to other members of the presidential staff have also remained unanswered for the second consecutive week.

MaltaToday still has no replies as to how much was spent in total for the refurbishment of the Sir Anthony Mamo room at San Anton Palace, how much of the purchases were by direct order, a breakdown of the expenses, and a breakdown of salaries of senior staff within the presidential secretariat.

Meanwhile President Abela – who has done away with a motorcycled police escort except for when attending official State events – has now been given a round-the-clock two-man, plain-clothes escort provided by the AFM.

The men – fully trained soldiers in VVIP protection – have been added to the presidential security detail over and above the complement at San Anton, and accompany President Abela in an unmarked car (paid for by the Palace) that follows the president’s official car.

The additional security has again raised eyebrows within government, as neither the police nor the AFM have received any information that the President was under any specific threat that merited round-the-clock surveillance of the kind he has been granted.

MaltaToday is informed that the request for the additional security came from the Palace and was directed specifically to the AFM and not to the police.

Meanwhile, MaltaToday is informed that plans for the erection of a coffee shop  inside the kitchen gardens at San Anton have been temporarily put “on hold” by the Office of the President, despite a pending application before Mepa.

The Palace denied planning to erect a ‘coffee shop’ but confirmed a ‘refreshment area for philanthropic use.