Labour MP’s claims he was consultant to rural affairs ministry, disputed

Labour MP Silvio Schembri has decried media reports on his appointment as a consultant to economy minister Chris Cardona, as an "attack" intended to cause him personal damage.

But claims that he was previously similarly employed as a consultant with the rural affairs ministry, under the Nationalist administration, have been disputed by a former ministry official.

The Nationalist Party's media set much store in pointing out that Schembri, an economist by profession, had been appointed to Cardona's side on a €33,853 salary and €4,569 car allowance, apart from his €19,000 honoraria as an MP.

Currently abroad on parliamentary duties, the newly-elected MP took to Facebook to reply to the media reports, claiming that he has been "carrying out this work for three years, with the same salary and conditions. The only difference is that before I was employed with the ministry for agriculture and today I am with the ministry for economy," Schembri said.

But source formerly privy to the rural affairs ministry's appointments has disputed this claim, in comments to MaltaToday.

"Schembri was not appointed to the rural affairs ministry. He was the manager of the GAL-Xlokk foundation, which is set up by a group of local councils and benefits from EAFRD funds. But he was definitely not a consultant to the rural affairs ministry."

Before being appointed as a consultant to the ministry for the economy in March, Schembri served as the manager of the GAL-Xlokk foundation, an NGO set up by local councils from the south of the island. Amongst the foundation's board of members was his father John Schembri, the mayor of Luqa, who serves as the foundation's treasurer.

The foundation was set up to manage funds for the local councils from the European Rural Development Fund, and it is currently searching for a new manager.

Schembri was elected for the first time to parliament during the 2013 general elections.

"I challenge the Nationalists to name at least one MP who after being elected to parliament resigned his job. A lawyer remains a lawyer, an economist remains an economist," Schembri said on his Facbeook wall.

Schembri was also a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy.