Abela’s ousted ministers share €318,000 from secret terminal benefits scheme

The latest reshuffle of Robert Abela’s cabinet has come at a cost of hundreds of thousands of euros to taxpayers in so-called secret ‘terminal benefits’, The Shift has found through a freedom of information request.

The Shift can report that Abela’s 2022 decision to inject new blood into the cabinet has meant that nine ousted former ministers and junior ministers have shared €318,000 between them from the benefits scheme, or an average of €35,000 each.

The disbursements were made shortly after the former cabinet members’ positions were terminated and in line with a controversial secret scheme designed by politicians for themselves.

The scheme, which has been changed twice, and secretly once again by disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for his personal benefit, pays former cabinet members – who were either not re-elected, resigned, sacked or otherwise not re-nominated – a terminal benefit equivalent to either a month’s salary for each year they served in cabinet or a minimum of a six-month salary.

The scheme was introduced by a Nationalist administration in 2012 and has been kept secret ever since by all administrations.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has steadfastly refused to publish the scheme as amended by his predecessor, Muscat, with the excuse that it is a protected cabinet document.

The scheme’s latest round of disbursements to politicians obtained by The Shift through a freedom of information request shows that former ministers Evarist Bartolo and Jose’ Herrera, who lost their parliamentary seats, and former minister Michael Farrugia, who Abela has left on the backbench, benefitted the most. They received a lump sum of over €44,000 each.

Other former cabinet ministers receiving pay-outs included Edward Zammit Lewis (€29,373). This was the second time Zammit Lewis received the terminal benefit – he received another €27,330 in 2017 for not being elected.

Also on the list are Carmelo Abela (€35,493) and former parliamentary secretaries Alex Muscat (€28,171), Chris Agius (€36,387) and Deo Debattista (€28,171).

Since the secret scheme does not consider why a politician was not reappointed to cabinet, those who resigned in disgrace also receive the benefit, like former Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar who got a €28,000 payment from public coffers.

No other state employee has an automatic right to any terminal benefit payment upon retirement.

Members of parliament are also entitled to a special pension, over and above their National Insurance pension, upon reaching retirement age. The same was introduced for members of the judiciary a few years ago.

These special schemes are kept out of public discourse as much as possible and are rarely mentioned by politicians from either side of the House.