Luke Dalli’s appointment in defiance of prime minister’s directive

Luke Dalli’s appointment as Executive Chairperson and CEO of the Malta Arts Council is in defiance of  Prime Minister Robert Abela’s directive issued in 2020.

Dalli, a 37-year-old lawyer and the son of former Labour Minister Helena Dalli, was given the full-time post despite already working as a full-time lawyer in his private firm, Dalli Paris Advocates.

In November 2020, Prime Minister Robert Abela went on record stating that on his watch, the government’s top executives, including Executive Chairpersons or CEOs, would not be allowed to continue with their private business or professions.

Criticising his predecessors, Abela insisted that such positions with the government already carried generous salaries, more than twice that of their Ministers. So all those given such positions were expected to dedicate their whole time to their government role.

The Office of the Prime Minister has not yet explained why it allowed Culture Minister Owen Bonnici to go against the Prime Minister’s directive to appoint Dalli.

There are other CEOs appointed on Abela’s watch who are also in breach of these rules, including the CEO of the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS), Robert Xuereb, the CEO of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, Josianne Cutajar, and the CEO of Project Green, Joseph Cuschieri.

In Dalli’s case, the situation becomes even more complicated, as he is one of the defence lawyers for disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who is accused of corruption and fraud against the State.

Sources at the Attorney General’s office leading the prosecution against Muscat told The Shift that it did not make sense that a government CEO is defending the former Prime Minister against the same government’s prosecuting officers representing the Attorney General.

“The Prime Minister must now ask Dalli to choose, as the two positions he occupies are incompatible.”

Dalli’s latest appointment as Executive Chairman has been years in the making.

Soon after Labour took power in 2013, he was given a contract as a legal officer by Albert Marshall, then chairman of the Arts Council.

In 2017, Dalli, who describes Marshall as his “life mentor”, was awarded another contract, making his position indefinite.

Last year, Marshall appointed Dalli as Chief Operations Officer (COO), even though the Council already had another COO. Dalli was placed on a €60,000 package without needing to spend time at the office, unlike all other employees.

Last week, Marshall made way for Dalli, who, with Minister Owen Bonnici’s approval, took up his role as Executive Chair.

As a compromise, Marshall, 78, and on various government retainers, was given a new consultancy contract so that he could stay on the Arts Council’s payroll.

No public call was made before Dalli was appointed Executive Chair.

Last year, after Robert Abela refused to nominate Dalli’s mother for the position of President of Malta, Dalli publicly declared that he was leaving Labour’s TV.