Frank Fabri, the disgraced former permanent secretary appointed CEO of a newly created government fish farms agency last month, will be paid more than €80,000 annually.
As part of a definite three-year contract, Fabri is now receiving a €47,000 base salary, which increases to €80,258 when bonuses and allowances are included. The base salary also increases each year, resulting in a financial package of €82,500 by 2026.
In 2021, Fabri resigned in disgrace from his role as the permanent secretary for the education ministry in the wake of an ethics probe into former education minister Justyne Caruana and a contract she awarded her boyfriend.
Despite his history, he was appointed CEO at Aquatic Resources Malta, a new government entity established in November 2023.
Reportedly, it will be “developing research and innovation projects in fishing and aquaculture” with a budget of more than €10 million.
The Shift obtained Fabri’s contract through a freedom of information request. It specifies a remuneration of “€47,000 for the year 2024, €47,500 for the year 2025 and €48,600 for the year 2026.”
A raft of additional allowances bump Fabri’s pay package up to more than €80,000 each year.
An excerpt from Fabri’s three-year contract.
The allowances include €8,000 per year in expenses, €1,800 per year for communication and almost €4,700 per year for a car. The contract also stipulates a 15% performance bonus, a 15% “research projects allowance” and a 10% disturbance allowance.
Sharlo Camilleri, the Permanent Secretary for the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry, signed the contract on behalf of Minister Anton Refalo.
In his former role as a permanent secretary who answers to the prime minister, Fabri was obliged to ensure no public resources were wasted and uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.
Instead, Fabri had covered for Justyne Caruana during an ethics probe which looked into a €15,000 contract given to Caruana’s boyfriend, footballer Daniel Bogdanovic.
Fabri had signed off on the contract and even paid taxpayer funds for a report when news of Bogdanovic’s contract emerged.
When Fabri stepped down as permanent secretary in January 2021, the then Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar had publicly stated that Fabri was under investigation. The police were also asked to look into his actions with former Minister Caruana for possible criminal offences.
However, neither Fabri nor Caruana has been prosecuted since then, as the police failed to press any charges.
Now he can screw up the fish, in the same way he screwed up the education system with his experiments.
It certainly pays to be disgraced!
It is of no surprise that the GRECO report has slammed us for this shit and more……!
One day the police Commissioner will have a great deal to answer.
It will be in the afterlife just before he finds himself in a very hot place, because nobody answers for anything illegal and immoral in corrupt Malta. At least they’ll all be together down there.
I hope there is a HELL for these scumbags!
And the ‘Opposition’ is nowhere to be seen or heard on this and many other issues. The plethora of ‘spokespersons’ are still in hibernation.
For every atrocity committed in the public service / public sector, there is invariably a senior official in collusion with a politician as in this case. It’s a question of naming and shaming, dear Bernard, but to do this you have to shed your kids’ gloves…
TAF x jonqsu ministru please TOILET PAPER ROLLS ghal bzoniiet personality ta kuljum
there is a problem with these things.
people are not surprised anymore and expect nothing but corruption from above.
this vicious circle of pigging out, ends drastically or will never end.
unfortunately there is no middle point at this stage.
The problem is also that voters see a timid, quasi useless opposition and are resigned to live in the sewer this island has become. It’s tragic how citizens feel they no longer have a voice or politicians to uphold it.
In my opinion, one can easily reach the end conclusion: for Robert Abela and his forty thieves retrieving a lost vote for PL cost us €80,000 yearly.
Isn’t this Fabri the same person who attempted to obstruct the Ombudsman’s investigation into a complaint by made by an MCAST employee? See Ombudsman’s Case Notes for 2022, pages 68 and 69.