Former minister Justyne Caruana is back on the public payroll as a legal officer after she was forced to resign from cabinet twice in one year.
Replying to questions from The Shift, Caruana confirmed that she was recruited as a legal officer at the Victims Support Agency, within the remit of the home affairs ministry.
She said she was recruited following a public call. Further research by The Shift to verify the call showed that the deadline for applications was a week after her second resignation as minister in December 2021. Caruana was still serving as an MP until last March.
The Shift is reliably informed that her package is around €40,000 a year.
She told The Shift she is replying to questions, “although I am now a private citizen”, saying she was recruited at the agency as a legal officer following a public call.
It is as yet unclear whether Caruana is permitted to continue her private practice while being employed full time at the agency. She is regularly seen defending clients in Gozo.
Last December, the former education minister was forced to resign after she was outed giving a contract to her boyfriend, footballer Daniel Bogdanovic.
She had only been appointed minister again by Prime Minister Robert Abela at the end of 2020, a few months after she had already been forced to resign when it was revealed that her husband, former Police Deputy Commissioner Silvio Valletta, was close to Yorgen Fenech and had gone on trips with him despite already being suspected of involvement in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
While Caruana had denied any knowledge of this relationship, she resigned her post and left her husband.
Following her first resignation, Caruana was given a government termination benefit payment of €30,000.
Asked whether she was given another benefit following her second resignation, Caruana said that she had “renounced in writing any terminal benefits that I may have been entitled to in connection with my ministerial role.”
There is definitely something Hitchcock/Bram Stoker about the way this sort of person relentlessly returns to hook into a main artery.
She must know something juicy that they keep her place at the trough no matter what?
The package of € 40,000 a year has become standard to keep quiet.
“Let the good times roll” – a popular song by the group ‘The Cars’ back in 1978.
Rather old – but certainly not outdated, it seems!
Il postijiet tax xoghol jivvintawhom ! Sparparjal ta flus bl addocc. Ma nafx fejn hu l -Awditur Generali. Hawn Ghawdex hawn hafna u hafna haddiema tal Gvern li lanqas jafu fejn hu xogholhom ahseb u ara kemm immorru ghax xoghol. Iva possibli ma jiccekja hadd ? U kulhadd jiehu l eluf mil gvern ta xejn. Barra minn hekk dawn il haddiema qed jiehdu xoghol ta haddiehor ghax jahdmu irregolari meta dawn suppost qeghdin jahdmu mal gvern. Kull tip ta xoghol jaghmlu barra dak li suppost jaghmlu. Ezempju biex tifmuni. Ma tarax beach cleaner ghax dan immur jaghmel xoghol ta kahhal jithallas cash u l bolla jhallassilu l gvern. Tal Biki. Miskien minn hu full time self employed f Ghawdex ghax dal Gvern sallabhom. Haddilhom il haddiema kollha u barra minn hekk spiccaw jikkompetu ma dawn il haddiema tal gvern ghax dawn ma ghadhomx spejjez daqs il full time self employed.
Blackmailing each other
“….saying she was recruited at the agency as a legal officer following a public call.” Ah! Yes! A la MCAST!