A 30-year-old lawyer from Mosta who was Robert Abela’s assistant at his private legal practice before he was elected prime minister, is being given, as per his demands, the luxury five-star treatment when he travels as a Malta Tourism Authority consultant.

The consultancy contract he was granted by the MTA just a few weeks after Abela entered the Office of the Prime Minister at the beginning of 2020, and obtained by The Shift through a Freedom of Information request, was also written by Pace himself and signed by the MTA instead of the other way around.

Pace’s contract, one of several government appointments he received since 2020 after finding himself out of a job when Abela became Labour Party leader, specifies that each time he is required to travel overseas on MTA business, the state entity has to cater to his specific travel needs.

These include business class tickets, five-star accommodation, transfers, taxis, insurance and all other requirements.

The contract, written by Pace in the first person, specifies that the young lawyer also charged the MTA the equivalent of eight hours of legal fees as allowances for each day of travel, including when he is in transit, over and above his regular fees.

An extract from Ryan Pace’s MTA contract obtained through an FOI request.

In the four-year contract countersigned by MTA Chairman Gavin Gulia, Pace was also permitted to insert one-sided clauses such as that which precludes him from legal responsibility for his MTA advice and that all liabilities are to be borne by the MTA.

Through the contract, Pace is also serving as the MTA’s data protection officer, a post not usually given to an outside consultant but to a senior full-time official engaged by a public authority due to the sensitive information handled.

Sources within the MTA told The Shift that it was unheard of for an MTA consultant to dictate his terms in a service contract.

Pace’s MTA contract, worth a minimum of €24,000 a year, is just one of a raft of payments he receives through a number of government appointments.

With only two years of experience as a practising lawyer at Abela Advocates, Pace was nominated by the prime minister to Chair the Malta Gaming Authority in 2020.

According to the latest official public records, Pace is also currently on the board of directors of ARMS Ltd, Gozo Heliport Ltd, Malta Government Investments Limited and Malta Investment Management Company Ltd.  They all pay Pace separate honoraria.

Pace serves as board secretary of Engineering Resources Ltd and Mediterranean Offshore Bunkering Company Ltd. He was also recently appointed as the Malta Film Commission’s deputy chairperson.

Pace started working for Abela’s legal practice as an intern in 2015 as a university student.

In his student days, he was active in Pulse – the student organisation serving as the governing Labour Party’s unofficial youth wing. His student elections motto was: ‘I’m paving the way’.