‘Free’ Christina Aguilera concert cost taxpayers €1 million

A ‘free’ concert by Christina Aguilera for EuroPride last year cost taxpayers €1 million, in an event so mismanaged that the National Audit Office found it cost double the planned budget.

What was supposed to be a celebration of LGBTIQ rights held between September 7 – 17, 2023, turned into an exercise of uncontrolled spending with millions unaccounted for and suspicions of financial looting verging on the criminal, a report by the Auditor General reveals.

Despite the government’s already substantial budget of €2.5 million dedicated to the event, spending spiralled out of control, reaching €5 million, with hundreds of thousands remaining unpaid until the summer of 2024.

The political responsibility for what happened falls squarely on the shoulders of  Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg, who has not yet uttered a word on the shocking revelations.

While The Shift last year revealed the reported abuse of public funds, the Auditor General’s office delved deeper, shedding light on how an activity that was supposed to cost €2.5 million ended up costing €5 million, with most of the spending unaccounted for or dished out irregularly.

The National Audit Office (NAO) faced barriers when conducting its audit, with the Office of the Prime Minister even refusing to identify the government officials involved in the financial mess.

The Shift identified Parliamentary Secretary Buttigieg, Carmen Sammut, the wife of the former PBS CEO, and Marouska Pisani Bugeja, a former PN executive now at Labour’s ONE, as among those responsible for what happened.

Aguilera gets €1 million

In one instance, unilaterally and without authorisation, Carmen Sammut agreed to provide two nights of lodging for singer Christina Aguilera and her staff at a total cost of €77,700. The hotel was not named in the report.

Permanent Secretary Emanuel Psaila approved the agreement a week after it was signed.

When the NAO asked how Sammut selected the particular hotel, the Prime Minister’s Office said it was what the singer wanted. Yet, the NAO found no evidence to support this claim.

While struggling to ascertain costs due to poor record-keeping, the NAO established the ‘free’ event for the public actually cost taxpayers €1 million.

Contracts show that Buttigieg’s secretariat entered into two separate contracts with the international star’s representatives: a €300,000 fee for the artist and another €700,000 for so-called production costs.

When asked to explain how a €2.5 million budget ended up costing twice as much, OPM officials could not explain.

They told the NAO that the main reason triggering the variation was “unexpected adverse weather conditions” and the undervaluation of certain expenses, such as security.

Sammut has since resigned from her post as Head of the Secretariat, while Marouska Pisani Bugeja was promoted to adviser of the parliamentary secretary, who now falls under the direct responsibility of the office of Prime Minister Robert Abela.

Reckless spending

The EuroPride event was mainly intended to serve as a PR exercise for the government, which explains the no-holds-barred spending. In fact, seven NGOs forming part of the LGBTIQ Consultative Council denounced the government’s lack of transparency, “miscommunication”, and pinkwashing tactics in its organisation of EuroPride.

It was pushed by former European Commissioner Helena Dalli as she sought the position of President of Malta, and when that failed, she attempted to renew her term as European Commissioner.

“The total expenditure recorded on 31 July 2024 amounted to €4,638,005, thus exceeding the allocation by 86%,” the NAO noted.

Rebecca Buttigieg and her staff created such a financial mess that the NAO had to restart the audit exercise midway through when it encountered over half a million euro in pending invoices.

The NAO found that while the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Emanuel Psaila was supposed to be the official approving everything, he was used as a rubber stamp.

Even though this was irregular, the ‘real’ event coordinator was Carmen Sammut, the Head of Secretariat of Rebecca Buttigieg.

Her main collaborators, paid over €1 million, were events company Greaat, owned by former Net TV CEO Anton Attard and Mark Grech, better known as il-Guru when he was president of the PN youth section.

Grech has strong connections to Luke Dalli, son of the former European Commissioner pushing for this event.

Pointing out Sammut’s irregular role in all the spending, the NAO said that, against all rules, she monitored calls for quotations, issued recommendations for payments, certified invoices, issued purchase orders, and coordinated the delivery of hundreds of thousands of euro worth of merchandise – to the parliamentary secretary’s office.

“The NAO encountered instances where goods were to be delivered personally to the private secretary of Rebecca Buttigieg,” the report states.