Minister’s canvasser handed €70,000 BCA role, never reported for duty

A close aide and political canvasser for Justice Minister Jonathan Attard was handed a financial package worth around €70,000 at the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) last year but never reported for work at the agency, The Shift can reveal.

Deborah Felice, widely known within Labour Party circles as “Debbie from Tarxien”, is a long-time political canvasser closely associated with Minister Attard.

In a separate case, another trusted associate of the minister, lawyer Ivan Meli, was recruited to a senior executive position at the same Authority on a package approaching €90,000, despite continuing to spend much of his time working from the minister’s offices in Valletta.

The appointments, described by sources as blatant examples of political patronage and abuse of public funds, have intensified concerns that the BCA, the regulator tasked with overseeing Malta’s crisis-ridden construction sector, has instead become a vehicle for ministerial recruitment and rewards.

Last year, while already employed as a person of trust within Attard’s ministry, Felice was recruited by the BCA through a public call and appointed Head of Customer Care on a package estimated at around €70,000 annually.

According to sources familiar with the recruitment process, several more experienced and qualified BCA officials applied for the post. Yet Felice emerged as the preferred candidate following an internal interview process.

However, multiple sources confirmed to The Shift that since receiving the appointment, Felice has effectively never turned up for work at the BCA’s offices, except for occasional meetings.

Instead, she continued operating from Minister Attard’s ministry in Valletta, where she remained focused on constituency work and handling requests from the minister’s supporters.

Government salary scales indicate Felice’s previous role as a ministry employee carried a substantially lower financial package than the one she now receives through the BCA.

Questions sent to Felice to explain herself remained unanswered.

In the case involving Meli, a Labour councillor in Fgura and a close associate and former adviser to the minister, he was also transferred onto the BCA payroll as a chief officer on a package understood to be worth around €90,000 annually.

Meli previously served as Minister Attard’s assistant in a position of trust within the ministry and, according to sources, also ranked first in an interview process conducted by the Authority.

The BCA is currently led by CEO Roderick Bonnici, another official considered close to the minister, who appears to be allowing the abuse to continue unchecked.

While sources said Meli did spend part of his time at the Authority’s offices, they insisted he continued to operate extensively from the ministry in Valletta.

“The BCA has effectively become a recruitment agency for the minister,” one source said.

The revelations come amid growing scrutiny of the Building and Construction Authority, which was established in the wake of the 2020 death of Miriam Pace after her home collapsed during nearby excavation works.

The Authority was presented by the government as a major reform intended to restore public confidence in Malta’s construction industry following years of deadly accidents, lax enforcement and regulatory failures.

Yet since its creation, the BCA has repeatedly faced accusations of weak oversight, selective enforcement and political interference.

Public confidence in the Authority deteriorated further following the death of Jean Paul Sofia at a Corradino construction site in 2022, a tragedy that triggered a public inquiry exposing serious failures across Malta’s regulatory structures.

Independent media and civil society groups have repeatedly warned that Malta’s construction regulator risks becoming compromised by the same political patronage networks it is supposed to oversee.

Only yesterday, concerns about the collapse of parts of a building in Naxxar once again caused concern and led to families being evicted.

It is an open secret that Malta’s construction lobby wields significant influence in the sector.