PBS boss is being paid twice for the same role, a two-year FOI battle reveals

Tista’ taqra dan l-artiklu bil-Malti

PBS Executive Chairman Mark Sammut is receiving two separate salaries for the same job – one for his role as executive chairman and another for chairing the board of directors.

The PBS boss, who had no experience in broadcasting when handpicked by Prime Minister Robert Abela to run the state broadcaster, is simultaneously receiving direct orders from the health ministry through his personal business. He also chairs another government entity for which he is paid separately.

Documents obtained by The Shift through the Freedom of Information Act, which Sammut resisted publishing for over two years, show the political appointee is taking home a total of more than €130,000 a year from the state broadcaster.

They show how Sammut is earning over €100,000 a year as PBS’ CEO while also paying himself an extra €26,000 a year to chair the company’s board of directors.

This means Sammut is earning almost €11,000 a month from the three-year contract (download here) signed by Albert Marshall. 

Giving himself an extra €26,000

As well as the Executive Chair’s contract, The Shift also asked in its Freedom of Information request for information on payment of the board position, which is not part of his contract. It revealed the additional €26,000 a year.

Meanwhile, PBS is losing millions annually despite the approximate €6 million it receives from taxpayers to stay afloat.

Marshall is another political appointee and a former Labour TV CEO who has sat on the PBS board since 2013, in addition to several other government appointments and consultancies.

When asked by The Shift, Sammut did not attempt to justify the additional €26,000 payment for chairing board meetings of the company he heads. Nor is he saying how many times a year the board meets.

Sources within PBS have informed The Shift that those meetings have become few and far between since Sammut’s appointment, and are only held to rubber-stamp decisions the chairman has already taken.

PBS board member Edward Woods also recently confirmed this state of affairs. When asked by a parliamentary committee about any potential conflict of interest between his PBS board position and the chairmanship of the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority, Woods told MPs that the PBS board rarely meets.

In addition to these two PBS payments, Sammut is also the chairman of Malta Air Travel, a one-aircraft government airline set up by disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi.

A recent National Audit Office report found Sammut and the airline’s board were paying themselves more than they were supposed to and in an irregular fashion. The government has not sought to have the extra payments refunded after the report’s findings.

Through his private IT businesses – Cursor Limited and Mall Systems Ltd – Sammut also receives direct contracts worth tens of thousands of euros from the health ministry.

Until a few months ago, Sammut’s wife, Carmen, was Health Minister Chris Fearne’s chief of staff. After the last general elections, she joined Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg as her chief of staff.

A two-year battle to deny publication

Sammut spent two years resisting the publication of his contract and waged a legal battle with lawyers, paid by PBS, and funded by taxpayers, to argue that it should not be made public.

Refusing to entertain The Shift’s Freedom of Information request for his contract, Sammut contended that PBS is a commercial entity and, as such, should not be open to such scrutiny.

The Shift objected to Sammut’s argumentation and insisted that, as a public entity subsidised by taxpayers, PBS was obliged to be transparent.

The Information and Data Protection Commissioner upheld The Shift’s request and ordered Sammut to disclose the contract. But Sammut dug in his heels and had his lawyers once again block The Shift’s request by filing an appeal.

The Appeals Tribunal, chaired by lawyer Anna Mallia, also decided in The Shift’s favour and gave Sammut a dressing-down.

In her decision, Mallia said that since Sammut’s payments came from public funds, the information is in the public interest.

Sammut’s legal battle was led by PBS lawyer Mark Vassallo, who is also defending the Office of the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri in his ongoing criminal cases. Vassallo is also PBS’ board secretary.