Et tu, Clyde? – Kevin Cassar

Clyde Caruana wrote to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, denying he’d misled parliament.  The next week, he wrote back to the Speaker, admitting he had.

For 18 months, Minister Caruana had concealed the obscene pay package of Air Malta’s executive chairman David Curmi. Caruana evaded parliamentary questions, gave non-replies, ordered Air Malta to hide Curmi’s package and claimed his ministry didn’t have the contract.

Caruana got Air Malta to lie to the public: “The Executive Chair does not receive honoraria, directors’ fees, payments or any other form of remuneration”.  Air Malta had the cheek to claim that “there are no engagement contracts between the Executive Chair and Air Malta plc”.

The Shift asked Air Malta what David Curmi was doing at Air Malta. Was he working on a voluntary basis? Air Malta didn’t reply.

Caruana dared to table a document in parliament stating that Curmi received no remuneration for sitting on Air Malta’s Board of Directors. When challenged about his falsehood, he doubled down and wrote to the Speaker denying he’d misled parliament.

Nobody would have been any the wiser hadn’t it been for the perseverance and resilience of The Shift.

In April 2023, The Shift lodged a Freedom of Information request. Air Malta lied.  “There is no such contract,” it claimed, asking for a 20-day extension.

Faced with utter intransigence, total secrecy and blatant misinformation, The Shift was compelled to resort to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner. David Curmi’s top-secret contract was finally revealed.  And, with it, the real reason that Caruana resisted its publication for 18 long months.

Curmi was being paid over €258,000 a year.  His three-year contract topped three-quarters of a million euros. He’s paid €21,500 monthly and an additional €3,500 to cover VAT.

And he wasn’t just working for Air Malta.  He was simultaneously on the boards of other private companies, including the Corinthia Group of Companies.  He was a board director of Aviation Online Ltd, BPO Services Ltd, Centrecom Ltd, Sqmeterz Ltd, World Aviation Group Ltd, World Aviation Services Ltd, and even sat on the Valletta 2018 Foundation’s board.

Curmi was the highest-paid consultant in the country. He made Carmen Ciantar’s obscene pay package, also revealed by The Shift, look like spare change.

But that wasn’t enough. Curmi was also pocketing an additional €10,000 in director’s fees. No wonder Clyde Caruana was so desperate to hide this scandal.

Curmi’s role was to “restructure and save Air Malta from bankruptcy”. Some would have been ready to overlook his eye-watering pay package if he’d fulfilled his role. If Air Malta had been saved, some would even be willing to forgive Clyde Caruana for his scheming secrecy and outrageous falsehoods. If Curmi had managed to turn the national airline around, most would regain their trust in Clyde Caruana’s judgement.

Instead, Curmi has overseen hundreds of millions of euros in taxpayer funds being flushed down the Air Malta drain, ground handling services being hived off, and hundreds of employees losing their jobs. Air Malta will be no more by the end of this year.

No wonder Clyde Caruana kept hiding the truth and openly lied to parliament.

As early as January 2022, MP Jason Azzopardi was asking Caruana to confirm Curmi was earning over €220,000 a year. Caruana evaded the question by simply replying that Curmi’s “remuneration is less than that of the previous Chairman and CEO added together”.

MP Joe Ellis asked about Curmi’s pay package again.  Caruana refused to answer, simply stating that “the information is commercially sensitive”.

This June, MP Rebekah Borg asked Caruana to table Curmi’s contract.  Caruana refused and referred her to his non-answer to Jason Azzopardi’s PQ.

Clyde Caruana knew that Curmi’s remuneration was a hot potato. He must have known exactly what Curmi was being paid, which is precisely why he was so adamant that it remains secret. Caruana knew publishing that contract would infuriate the public, especially those who had lost their job at Air Malta.

He must have known that when he tabled his false document in parliament stating that Curmi was not remunerated, that he was pushing his luck. His deception was called out.  But Caruana didn’t back off.  He wrote to the Speaker to insist that the document was correct and denied he’d misled parliament.

But that sleazy contract, which Caruana’s ministry claimed “is not in its possession”, was published by The Shift. Caruana was exposed for the scheming, lying crook that he is. Caught in a lie, Caruana desperately tried to shift the blame to Curmi himself.  He wants us to believe that he didn’t know what Curmi was being paid.

“I was informed by Mr David Curmi, Air Malta Executive Chairman, that although he does not receive any honoraria as chairman, he receives from the company a director’s fee of 10,000 euro annually like all the other board directors”.

“While I apologise for this, at no point was it my intention to mislead parliament or to give incorrect information”.

So what were you doing for the last 18 months?

Article 5.7 of the Ministerial Code of Ethics demands that ministers provide full and correct information to parliament, cabinet and the public. Caruana hadn’t, for 18 months.

What information he gave was neither full nor correct. He had ample time to re-think.  Instead, he and Air Malta lied and lied – that no such contract exists, that it is not in their possession, that Curmi is not paid any honoraria, directors’ fees, payments or any other form of remuneration, the information is commercially sensitive, he’s paid less than two senior employees put together.

What a shame. Caruana stood out from the rest of the Cabinet. He was considered a breath of fresh air among the stinking stench of his colleagues. His replies to journalists were always polite and respectful.

He showed basic courtesy, an attribute sorely missing in his colleagues’ cantankerous, provocative and offensive retorts. Some even felt he had a degree of professionalism, competence and integrity.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

Caruana is no better than his colleagues – equally dishonest, deceitful and unscrupulous.