Standards probe sought over Culture Minister’s contracts to Albert Marshall

The Shift’s reporting on the raft of appointments Culture Minister Owen Bonnici awarded to the former chairman of the Labour Party’s ONE TV, Albert Marshall, has prompted a request for investigation by the Standards Commissioner.

The complaint filed by the Daphne Foundation flags the Culture Minister’s decision to issue multiple contracts to Marshall, which ran into thousands of euro a month, in direct breach of the minister’s ethical obligation to prudently manage public finances by ensuring they are used to benefit the culture sector at large.

In 2023, The Shift had exclusively revealed that Marshall was cashing in on over €100,000 a year from at least five government jobs, all awarded to him through the Culture Ministry. The Shift acquired contracts through Freedom of Information requests and published the details.

Earlier this year, another exclusive investigation published by The Shift further exposed how Marshall was awarded an additional €20,000 a year through multiple contracts issued by the Valletta Cultural Agency (VCA), an entity that Marshall oversaw during his tenure as the former Executive Chair of the Arts Council.

The Daphne Foundation’s complaint was sent to the Office of Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi, who will now either accept the basis of the complaint following an investigation or otherwise dismiss it.

In particular, the complaint is based on the “serious conflict of interest” which clearly emerges in the context of Marshall’s previous role overseeing an agency that was spearheaded by two individuals with whom he enjoys close personal ties: VCA CEO Catherine Tabone and the agency’s Chairman, fellow Labour Party veteran Jason Micallef.

“Micallef succeeded Marshall as chief executive of ONE TV, while Tabone has been identified in news reports as a canvasser for Minister Owen Bonnici,” the complaint notes.

“While Marshall was the head of Arts Council Malta, the council awarded the prestigious ‘Audience’s Choice Award’ at the Premju Għall-Arti to Jason Micallef and Catherine Tabone in 2019,” the complaint adds.

The Foundation also highlighted the fact that, following the appointment of Marshall’s successor on the Arts Council, Marshall’s employment agreement was amended to “recast” him as a “technical expert” while keeping him on the Arts Council’s books at exorbitant rates.

“Over the three-year term (of the remainder of his amended contract), the value of Marshall’s employment as ‘technical expert’ is expected to exceed €300,000 a year,” the complaint states.

Bonnici, who has been a member of Cabinet for the past 13 years, has an established reputation for the rampant abuse of public funds and, more broadly, as one of the Labour Party’s foremost ‘yes men’.

The more recent abuses reported by The Shift throughout Bonnici’s tenure as a minister include a raft of direct orders issued to service providers close to the party, attempts to obscure excessive spending on Eurovision as well as commercial programming, and even the creation of entire entities with the sole purpose of appeasing fellow party loyalists.