Updated | MTA worker singled out by Nationalist MP got job fairly, ministry says

A woman whom Nationalist MP Antoine Borg alleged in parliament to have benefited from a ‘fast-track’ promotion at the Malta Tourism Authority, had been an employee for 28 years at the directorate.

Glenn Bedingfield, an aide to the Prime Minister, replied to accusations by Borg that his cousin had been promoted ahead of other candidates, saying that the person in question had been prevented from advancing in his career on several occasions irrespective of his qualifications.

Bedingfield said his cousin had applied for an internal call, for which she had the necessary qualifications and experience to be considered.

“It would have never passed through my head that my relatives are precluded from advancing in their careers,” the former One News journalist said, recently hauled over the coals for comments he made on Archbishop Charles Scicluna after the latter criticised Joseph Muscat’s poorly received New Year’s message.

“If Borg considers that 28 years are a ‘fast track’, it’s obvious he has a problem with numbers, having left the PN’s finances in a state that required a bailout,” Bedingfield quipped at the former PN financial controller’s stewardship of party finances. “Borg’s implication confirms that the PN is wasting time speaking about people, instead of talking about policies.”

Speaking during his parliamentary adjournment, Borg claimed that Marisa Delorenzo was promoted from executive secretary to EU Affairs manager, bypassing the grade of assistant manager. Borg claimed that she was promoted despite other MTA staff being more qualified for the role. He added that the tourism authority’s HR director never communicates with the staff and simply follows commands of the MTA leaders and the tourism ministry.

Contacted by MaltaToday, a spokesperson for the tourism ministry said that Delorenzo, a senior executive, applied for the post of manager EU programmes directorate within the MTA after answering an internal call for manager and senior manager posts. Three in the same grade as Delorenzo applied, meaning none of the assistant managers applied for the post. All candidates were submitted to an interview by MTA and ministry officials. "Ms Delorenzo was involved in successful projects such as that of the MCC's Sacra Infermeria and the Marsaxlokk Tourist Information Office."

In a reaction, Borg accused Bedingfield of "distorting the facts of the scandal" by saying that Delorenzo was performing duties as a clerk in the tourism department after she was employed with the government prior to the 1987 elections.

Borg suggested that Delorenzo was employed "at the last minute" in a pre-electoral public sector intake under then minister Joe Grima. "Bedingfield should be transparent enough to supply us with the requirements published for the job in question, and also whether these requirements are standard for such calls in high positions; and the relevant qualifications and experience his cousin enjoys. One would expect that for such a position, namely that of manager EU policies, the barest minimum would be a university degree in the subject. Huffing and puffing will not make this go away. This is yet another fast-trackin  and leapfrogging of freinds and relatives of the inner Taghna Lkoll clique."