18-year-old director resigns from post

The 18-year-old director of Fort Security Services has tendered his resignation after being “politically victimized” for his role, Economy Minister Chris Cardona said.

Addressing parliament, Cardona said Karl Cutajar said he felt he should resign from his post following the “political victimization” he endured.

Cutajar, nephew of the chief of staff at the Economy Ministry, came under fire following his appointment at the government security company.

In reply to parliamentary questions raised by PN MP Jason Azzopardi and subsidiary questions by Beppe Fenech Adami, Cardona said Cutajar did not receive any remuneration for his role.

He insisted that Cutajar got employed at MIMCOL “on his own steam”.

Turning the guns onto Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, Cardona said that two aides who had been assigned with Busuttil during his term as member of the European parliament were given jobs at Dar Malta.

One of them, Cardona said, was a 19-year-old who was employed at Dar Malta two days before the 2013 general election at an annual salary of €90,000.

Busuttil retorted that the cousin to junior minister Ian Borg and the daughter of Finance Minister Edward Scicluna are both now working at Dar Malta, which is Malta’s base in Brussels.

Interjecting, Borg clarified that both his cousin and Scicluna’s daughter had already been working in the public service before they applied and followed a rigorous process to join Dar Malta.

“My cousin joined the civil service in 2010 and a year later he was posted in Malta House, London, for four years. He applied as part of a public call,” Borg said, adding that his cousin was now earning “€4,000 less than he did at Malta House”.