Junior minister’s wife given fourth government job as Anton Refalo’s consultant

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Bonett is once again in the news, this time with the appointment of his wife Maxiline as a person of trust for Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo.

While according to the Ministerial Code of Ethics Cabinet members are precluded from employing their immediate family members – including their wives, children and siblings, Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds Chris Bonett has found a way around the long-established rules and has had his wife named an Agriculture Ministry policy consultant.

A lawyer by profession who originally worked at the Office of the Attorney General, The Shift can confirm that Maxiline Bonett was given a three-year contract last September as a person of trust and part-time policy consultant for Minister Refalo.

She is to advise the minister on matters of agriculture policy matters, review current developments in the agricultural sector and develop market-differentiated advice, insights, and solutions.

The Parliamentary Secretary’s wife is not known to have any specific qualification in the area of agriculture and is currently employed as a senior manager at the Lands Department, which falls under the remit of another of her husband’s colleagues, Minister Silvio Schembri.

Through the new consultancy, Mrs Bonett will still be able to keep her full-time job at the Lands Authority while earning an extra €1,000 a month for 10 hours of extra work for Anton Refalo.

These two positions are over and above the at least two other government appointments Maxilene Bonett has had since her husband was appointed Parliamentary Secretary.

Last June, Bonett’s Cabinet colleague Justice Minister Jonathan Attard appointed Mrs Bonett as the Asset Recovery Bureau’s board secretary.

Just a few weeks before that, Minister Owen Bonnici had appointed Mrs Bonett to the board of the Foundation for Maltese National Festivities.

Both positions are remunerated.

Despite having been in Cabinet for less than a year, the Standards Commissioner has already been asked to undertake two separate probes into Chris Bonett’s behaviour – over the use of his ministerial car for a family holiday to Sicily and over the way he was given ‘preferential treatment’ by Air Malta on a flight to London with his family.

Independent politician Arnold Cassola requested the probes and Bonett denies breaching the code of ethics in both cases.