OPM top official identified as key facilitator to Michelle Muscat’s NGOs – Commissioner calls for NAO probe

A Standards Commissioner investigation has identified Joyce Cassar as the central figure in a sustained pattern of rule-bending within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) that enabled NGOs led by Michelle Muscat to benefit from multiple government-paid employees at taxpayers’ expense.

In a detailed report, Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi concluded that the OPM’s human resources office, headed by Cassar in her role as Permanent Secretary, breached its own written policies over several years to accommodate requests from Muscat’s organisations – the Marigold Foundation and the National Alliance for Rare Diseases Support.

Under existing OPM regulations, NGOs are permitted only one seconded public employee at government expense. However, by treating Muscat’s two organisations as separate entities, despite operating from the same premises and under the same leadership, Cassar’s office approved multiple secondments simultaneously.

At one stage, five public employees were assigned across the two NGOs.

The Commissioner found that Cassar authorised secondments that clearly breached policy, including the assignment of more than one civil servant per NGO, the approval of high-salaried officials whose grade exceeded permitted levels, and the payment of wages that were not in line with established regulations.

In several cases, agreements were backdated after it emerged that proper procedures had not been followed, while some secondments proceeded without adequately drafted contracts.

In one specific case dating back to 2018, an official within Cassar’s office formally advised her to regularise a particular secondment arrangement. According to the Commissioner, this advice was ignored. Although Cassar later claimed she did not recall details of the case, departmental files showed that it was her signature approving the secondment.

The report also highlights inconsistencies in Cassar’s testimony during two separate interviews. The Commissioner noted that she claimed not to remember many of the approvals she had granted and, in certain instances, documentation in her own department contradicted her account.

Beyond the approvals themselves, the investigation revealed that Cassar personally intervened with senior officials to expedite the release of staff requested by Muscat’s NGOs. Among those contacted was Pierre Fenech, CEO of the Institute of Tourism Studies, whom Cassar urged to fast-track the process.

When questioned about the apparent urgency, Cassar told the Commissioner that this reflected her working style, explaining that she even wakes during the night to reply to emails. The Commissioner, however, viewed this expediency as indicative of preferential treatment.

Particularly controversial were the secondments of two drivers.

While both denied acting as Muscat’s personal chauffeurs, they admitted that their workday typically began at Muscat’s private residence in Burmarrad, from where they drove her government-provided vehicle to Valletta before returning it to her home garage at the end of the day.

The Shift is informed that their duties also included transporting Muscat’s twin daughters to private schools in Mġarr and later Ta’ Qali, all while remaining on the public payroll.

Joyce Cassar joined the public service in 2013, the year Labour was returned to power. She was promoted to Permanent Secretary – the highest grade in the civil service – just four years later by disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, husband of Michelle Muscat.

The investigation was launched following a complaint by Momentum politician Arnold Cassola. While the Commissioner did not find evidence that Prime Minister Robert Abela directly intervened to secure favourable treatment for Muscat, the report concludes that the system within the OPM was manipulated over several years to ensure her organisations were accommodated.

In strongly worded conclusions, the Commissioner described the conduct within the OPM as a flagrant abuse of established procedures and a failure of governance safeguards.

He recommended that the National Audit Office examine the OPM’s wider secondment framework to determine whether the irregularities identified in this case point to a broader pattern of abuse.