Former PBS editor, 70, pocketing €70,000 government consultancy

Reno Bugeja, a former PBS and Xandir Malta reporter who officially retired in 2020 after reaching pensionable age, is being paid close to €70,000 a year from public funds as a full-time consultant to the Labour government, primarily attached to Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms and Equality Rebecca Buttigieg.

Despite a directive issued by the Office of the Prime Minister ordering ministries to stop publishing the names of consultants and advisers, The Shift can reveal that the former editor of the public broadcaster has been on the government payroll since his supposed retirement.

Ironically, in his new role as a government consultant, Bugeja is earning more than he ever did as PBS’s editor, while further drawing a full state pension.

After a long career as a PBS reporter, Bugeja was placed on a €50,000-a-year contract in 2013 as head of news. Under his current consultancy, however, he is being paid even more than when he used to be at PBS, drawing nearly €6,000 a month from public coffers, in addition to his pension entitlement.

Documents obtained by The Shift through a Freedom of Information request show that Bugeja’s consultancy contract was first signed in 2023 and has since been renewed annually. On top of his basic pay, he is also receiving a €16,000 “expertise allowance”, a supplement typically reserved for highly qualified specialists.

It remains unclear on what basis this allowance was granted, as Bugeja does not appear to have any academic qualifications, having joined then Xandir Malta at a young age in 1976 without pursuing tertiary education.

According to the contract, Bugeja’s duties include advising the 33-year-old parliamentary secretary on communications, assisting in the dissemination of information about her work, and drafting or contributing to her speeches.

Despite serving as a full-time, paid government adviser, Bugeja has continued to appear regularly on television programmes, particularly on TVM and ONE TV, presenting himself as an impartial journalist. More recently, he has also taken to social media to publicly support Buttigieg, without disclosing his financial relationship with her office.

Bugeja was appointed PBS editor just weeks after disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat was swept to power in 2013. He remained in charge of the newsroom until 2020, staying on for two years beyond the official retirement age.

In 2020, he was not granted a further extension, as Labour moved to install Norma Saliba in his place. Saliba later resigned following a clash with the then PBS chairman and is now employed as the Labour Party’s spokesperson.

Before joining Buttigieg’s office, Bugeja had also been handed a role at Enemalta, where he served as the state energy corporation’s chief spokesperson.