Update 2 | Brigadier’s resignation: Mallia won’t publish results for majors’ ‘double’ promotion

Brigadier's resigation

Home affairs minister Manuel Mallia will not publish the performance assessments of four majors who were promoted twice in two weeks, to lieutenant colonel and now colonels - the second-highest rank in the Armed Forces of Malta.

The promotions, slammed by the Nationalist opposition as having been carried out to favour so called 'militant Labourites' in the army ranks, were announced the same day that AFM commander Martin Xuereb tendered his resignation to take up a military-diplomatic post in Brussels.

Shadow home affairs minister Jason Azzopardi said in a press conference earlier today that it was these promotions, which he described as an army takeover by the Labour government, that had prompted Xuereb's resignation.

But home affairs and national security minister Manuel Mallia today denied putting any pressure on Brigadier Xuereb to resign. "He came to me this morning, we spoke for long, and delivered his resignation letter. We had a frank discussion and he said that after five years he should make way for a new commander," Mallia said.

Xuereb will retire officially in November 2013, having completed 26 years of service. One of the new colonels, Jeffrey Curmi, an expert in the army's Bomb Disposal Unit, was touted for the post of commander by state television TVM. According to Azzopardi, Curmi is a friend of the family of the prime minister, and that the colonel was promoted ahead of 12 other candidates. The news item has since been removed from the TVM website.

Mallia, who held a press conference shortly after the press conference Nationalist MPs Jason Azzopardi and Beppe Fenech Adami held outside the Luqa barracks, said he felt he should not publish the new colonels' performance assessments as a justification for their second promotion in two weeks.

"The army needed more colonels, and as lieutenant colonels they were selected by a board that included the Brigadier himself," Mallia said of the seven promotions.

But the new promotions from lieutenant colonels to colonels were carried out directly by the minister, as is his prerogative at law.

Mallia said the 'double' promotion was down to the government's "proactive" style of government. "We're not napping on decisions. Just because we don't seem to be accustomed to taking fast decisions, they appear to be bad. I'm here to implement the government programme after carrying out the necessary consultation. These are normal decisions, but it seems some people are used to procrastination in government."

Resignation

Brigadier Martin Xuereb tendered his resignation as commander of the Armed Forces of Malta, to take up a position in Brussels on defence-related matters.

According to MPs Beppe Fenech Adami and Jason Azzopardi, former majors Pierre Vassallo, Mark Mallia, Jeffrey Curmi and Mark Said were promoted to lieutenant colonel, and now promoted to colonels despite having doubtful credential. Vassallo himself was denied a security clearance in 2006 due to a past incident.

"We believe this is a serious abuse, and throws a bad light on the way the government is treating the army," Fenech Adami said. "For the past days, the Opposition has been appealing to government not to persist in its direct and indirect pressure on the AFM commander to resign."

Fenech Adami said the promotions had led to the resignation of the AFM commander. "Today we have a government that is undermining the people's trust in the Armed Forces. It looks as if this government has no limits as to the extremes it will reach in pleasing its own associates."

The government stated that Xuereb had accepted to retire from his post. "The Brigadier will continue to serve the government in a similar role."

"Brigadier Xuereb said that he was looking forward for the new challenges which lie ahead. The Minister for Home Affairs thanked Brigadier Xuereb for his loyalty to the country and for his personal loyalty to the minister. Malta will continue to benefit from Brigadier Xuereb's capabilities in the future."

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi described the four colonels as "militant Labourites", and said that in no country would newly-promoted Lt Cols be promoted to colonels. "Why were they promoted within just two weeks? What performance assessment took place to have them promoted to the second-highest rank in the army? Today it's the army's Black Friday, because it was this type of pressure that led to Brigadier Xuereb's resignation."

Azzopardi said that the government should publish all interview results and the marks each candidate recieved from the selection committee, in the name of transparency.

The MP also added that a Lieutenant Colonel who is currently serving in the Atalanta anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia, was not promoted; and that in the latest promotions, none of the new colonels had undertaken overseas staff training in the command of regiments. "How much more injustice can these army officers take?" Azzopardi said. "The sole aim of these promotions is for a coup d'etat inside the army, because no officer worth his salt would accept such an act to undermine his moral authority. This is what this government wanted."

Background

The army was recently the subject of a political tug-of-war after two Nationalist MPs alleged that the government was "taking over" the army, after promoting four senior officials. According to MP Jason Azzopardi, a 1986 incident in which disciplinary steps were taken by army officer Pierre Vassallo - who had been fired from the police corps - had denied him a security check in 2006.

Vassallo filed a judicial protest against Azzopardi, claiming that the MP had obtained his information abusively. On his part, Azzopardi says he obtained the information from a constitutional case filed by Vassallo himself, but the army officer insists the case had been filed, in the absence of a justified reason for the denial of his security clearance. He also said that given no reasons emerged from the court case, the two MPs had retrieved their information abusively.

Brigadier Xuereb was enlisted in the Army on 23 July 1986. He was appointed Commander of the Armed Forces with effect from on 18 January 2010 following the retirement of Brigadier Carmel Vassallo. During a career spanning over 26 years Brigadier Xuereb has occupied posts both in Malta and abroad.