Gozo’s senior civil servant rehired on €46,000 contract after retirement despite NAO censure

John Borg, Gozo’s most senior civil servant, who was censured by the National Audit Office (NAO) for repeated breaches of public procurement regulations and other irregularities, has received a generous parting gift from the Labour administration upon reaching his 65th birthday.

Despite reaching statutory retirement age and qualifying for a privileged pension, Borg has been reappointed to the public payroll. Like Members of Parliament and members of the Judiciary, permanent secretaries are now entitled to an uncapped second pension.

Yet, in addition to these benefits, Borg was brought back into the fold as a politically appointed “person of trust” through a contract approved by Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri.

As revealed earlier by The Shift, Borg was rehired within days of his official retirement. A copy of his new contract, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, shows that the arrangement goes far beyond a routine consultancy. Borg has been assigned a part-time role with limited responsibilities, for which he will earn an additional €46,000 per year.

Sources within the civil service told The Shift that Borg’s new position reinforces long-standing concerns about his suitability for senior office. During his tenure as Permanent Secretary, he was often viewed as a compliant figure who facilitated questionable ministerial directives. His latest appointment, they said, “confirms that perception.”

The justification for Borg’s new role is tied to his decade of experience representing the Ministry in the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) – a little-known international organisation with minimal influence.

Instead of appointing a successor to handle the ministry’s involvement in the CPMR, Minister Camilleri reportedly accepted Borg’s request to retain the role. Under the contract, Borg will work 25 hours per week at the ministry while continuing to travel abroad to attend meetings on its behalf.

According to the job description, Borg is to be paid for “offering insights into past CPMR activities, decisions, and evolving priorities based on a decade of attendance representing the Ministry for Gozo and Planning.”

He is also to be remunerated for “recalling unwritten arrangements or longstanding practices”, a clause that ministry officials have described as “verging on the ridiculous.” Typically, such institutional knowledge would be documented in formal minutes or official records.

The contract signed by Borg’s successor, current Permanent Secretary Mario Borg, grants the former official an additional €12,500 annual “expertise allowance” and a range of perks, including a government-paid car and expense allowance.

John Borg was the longest-serving permanent secretary in the Maltese civil service until his ‘retirement’. First appointed in 2014 by then-Gozo Minister Anton Refalo, he went on to serve under Justyne Caruana and Clint Camilleri, maintaining his post throughout successive Labour administrations.

During his tenure, Gozo’s civil service ballooned to unprecedented size. The NAO found extensive irregularities, including hundreds of employees who failed to fulfil their 40-hour workweek, widespread payment of unrecorded overtime, and a culture of procurement by direct order that had become “the norm” within the ministry.