Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg, who was outed by The Shift last year for putting his canvasser and personal campaign photographer on the public payroll to photograph the minister while travelling the world, has found a way to retain his personal friend while not falling foul of public service rules.
Instead of a ‘contract for service’ given specifically to former l-Orizzont photographer Ray Attard, Borg has now changed his canvasser’s contract into a full-time ‘adviser’ position, generally reserved for experts.
The Office of the Prime Minister has previously specified that ministers should not employ personal photographers but use the shared photography pool available through the Department of Information.
According to his new contract, obtained by The Shift through a Freedom of Information request, Attard is now advising the minister on “photography and videography”.
This comes with a salary increase from €38,400 a year under the ‘contract for service’ to €40,129 a year as an adviser. According to the contract, Attard has to work a 40-hour week instead of 30.
Perks of his new contract include having no fixed office, being able to work from home, use of a car, and having a communications allowance.
As The Shift previously reported, the ministry has never had any photographer engaged under a contract for service or in an advisory capacity.
Last year, while already on the public payroll, Attard was seen taking pictures of the minister with his constituents during the Dingli feast. When asked about this, the minister insisted that Attard worked free of charge and as a volunteer on weekends.
In 2022, Attard also joined foreign assignments, accompanying the minister on diplomatic missions, such as in Rio de Janeiro and New York, clocking up air miles while taking Borg’s photo with foreign personalities that were promptly posted on his social media channels.
When asked by The Shift about the delegation and expenses related to the Brazil and US trip, the ministry said Borg and Attard travelled together, without any other staff, and that costs were still being calculated.
For some time, the OPM intervened to stop the minister from wasting taxpayers’ funds on flight tickets, accommodation and expenses for his photographer.
Earlier this year, Borg misled parliament when asked about his photographer.
Answering a parliamentary question, Borg insisted that his ministry only spent €24,800 on photography in 2022 and declared he “did not engage any person as a photographer, either full or part-time.”
This, despite the €38,400 contract he gave Attard through an agreement signed on 18 May 2022 by Permanent Secretary Christopher Cutajar.
Sign up to our newsletter Stay in the know
"*" indicates required fields
Investigation reveals blatant abuse of rules by OPM to satisfy Michelle Muscat’s NGOs
Planning bills stalled as government accused of shielding developers ahead of election
Top civil servant facing fraud charges coordinating OPM’s Valletta ‘propaganda cube’
Enemalta Chair attends commercial event promoting former employer
Tags
#foreign affairs
#Foreign Affairs Minister
#Foreign Affairs Ministry
#Ian Borg
#Office of the Prime Minister
#photography
#Ray Attard
Other News
Investigation reveals blatant abuse of rules by OPM to satisfy Michelle Muscat’s NGOs
Planning bills stalled as government accused of shielding developers ahead of election
Top civil servant facing fraud charges coordinating OPM’s Valletta ‘propaganda cube’
Enemalta Chair attends commercial event promoting former employer
Pre-election recruitment surge as OPM triggers hundreds of applications for low-grade posts
AUM denies consulting Malta’s non-resident ambassador to Panama on waterfront debacle
Botched works, mounting delays plague €7 million Ħal Far race track
Proposed ‘farmer’s quarters’ in Buskett still being reassessed
Tents up as Owen Bonnici misses 13th carnival village deadline
Mater Dei: New heart treatment lab adds to growing list of stalled health projects
Developers attempting to turn Ta’ Xbiex villa area into apartment blocks
This man is a fraudster. A foreign affairs minister who builds and swims in a swimming pool illegally on land cheaply acquired from a mentally deficient owner. Now this. He takes from us 40,000 so the idiot can have a full time canvasser and family photographer under the guise of a ministry “adviser”.
He makes a fool of Malta.
This government is like a very bad joke.
An image advisor
Typical Ian Borg modus operandi. One of the biggest scoundrels in the MLP. Oh when, oh when, can we get rid of him?
It seems that the modern-day artful dodger has left quite an appreciable legacy behind!
Please keep in mind that these ministers have taken their oath in Malta and have now made it a running gag.
Not only do they show the population their stupid arrogance, they also show how shabby and petty they actually appear as a human being.
They deserve something other than respect.
But all the stench comes from the very top, from the one who allowed and enabled all this crap among himself.
His OWN photographer? Borg is more narcissistic than Donald Trump- and that IS saying something!
They deserve the “street justice”. This is in everyone’s face now and they don’t even have the decency to hide anymore, walking free with total impunity. The citizens of Malta are frustrated and are struggling to pay their rent and soon their food and petrol for their cars! The frustration and anger is growing everyday in Malta, everyone can sense it and these awful persons are the main reason! Time for changes.
It is part of the apprenticeship at One and the Party Candidates
Only qualified crooks are promoted to the electoral list.
The majority of the Maltese make fools of all Maltese including themselves, apart obviously, the ones on the gravy train!
The fact that a photographer has been put on the line of a consultant is becsuse Ministers cannot engage photographers, since the government already provides for this service through the Department of Information. So, Minister Borg found a way to circumvent rules. But the most preoccupying of all is the fact that the engagement of consultants are all approved by OPM and consultants are supposed to bring with them expertise which are related to the remit of the Ministry. In this case, is this photographer a diplomat or an expert in foreign affairs?
An “advisor on photography and videography”?
And why does the Foreign Affairs Minister need an advisor on how to use a photo/video camera? He is not in TV or cinema productions, and his job is not photography or videography.
He is merely Malta’s Chief Diplomat, with the only picture of him that matters being that on his diplomatic passport.
This said, the Facebook page “Affarijiet Barranin,” which is an official page, has stopped publishing pictures of Borg with foreign dignitaries since about a month ago. Had the Minister taken pictures with everyone that matters in world diplomacy, or has he received instructions or advice to stop using a Ministry page for his personal promotion and propaganda?
And while on the subject of Ian Borg and his nice pictures with world leaders, the ones with Jair Bolsonaro, the former President of Brasil, are for the history books. Borg visited Bolsonaro in Brasil – where Borg opened a new Maltese embassy – while on his way to the UN Security Council in NY, where Malta pledged to use its two year term on the Council to put climate change firmly as a global priority issue. But it was Bolsonaro’s policies about the Amazon forest that had had some of the most devastating negative impact on climate preservation. Borg’s contradiction could not be bigger.
I guess you could say that the Foreign Minister swims in illegality.
A Photoshop Consultant, perhaps?
The Artful Dodger had his own Jurassic Park. Borg is one of his more dangerous species of political dinosaurs.
Hslliel bil-provi.
Just be glad that Noddy doesn’t have one as that would cost us all a fortune, considering that he would attend the opening of a fridge door if he thought a camera was there.
I guess he’s meant to advise him on how to pose for photos
Who said t; Dan pajjiz tal- Mickey Mouse’ ( This is a land of clowns)? What is even worse is that the clowns perform in high places . Citizens are like puppets. They watch the show without doing anything to restore good sense in this country’s management ( or rather mismanagement).
Everything goes, They do no wrong .They are Saints.