€52,000 package for latest job of disgraced CEO’s daughter

Katrina Cuschieri, daughter of disgraced former financial services regulator and Project Green CEO Joseph Cuschieri, was granted an annual financial package worth up to €52,000 when she moved to the Office of the Prime Minister last year to perform managerial duties on Malta’s Vision 2050 strategy, The Shift can reveal.

According to her secondment letter, obtained by The Shift, Cuschieri’s package includes a €37,760 basic salary, a €2,600 responsibility allowance, a €1,600 communication allowance, and a €4,658.75 car cash allowance, plus a performance bonus of up to 12% of her basic salary.

Issued by the OPM’s Support Services Division, the letter assigns Cuschieri duties associated with the position of manager in the Office of the Permanent Secretary responsible for Malta Vision 2050, Coordination and Implementation. Her secondment took effect on 7 July 2025.

It also expressly protects her substantive employment at Infrastructure Malta.

The letter states that her Grade 1 Manager post at the agency will remain and that she will retain her current grade, salary and entitlements throughout the secondment.

Cuschieri’s move follows a succession of publicly funded appointments.

Days after completing her studies, she was recruited as a consultant to Energy Minister Miriam Dalli, who also appointed her to the board of government-owned Clearflow, a Water Services Corporation subsidiary, providing an additional source of income.

Still in her 20’s, she later joined Infrastructure Malta as Business Development Manager under CEO Steve Ellul. The Shift reported that Ellul had handpicked her without following routine recruitment procedures. Ellul had previously headed Project Green, the agency subsequently placed under her father’s leadership.

The family’s connections to Labour extend beyond these appointments.

Katrina Cuschieri is the granddaughter of former president George Vella, a longstanding Labour politician who also served as party deputy leader, deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister. Vella held the presidency between 2019 and 2024.

Her father’s professional ties with Dalli date back to their time at Vodafone, before she entered politics.

In January 2024, Dalli appointed him CEO of Project Green despite his forced resignation from the Malta Financial Services Authority. Prime Minister Robert Abela defended his return to a senior government role as a second chance.

Joseph Cuschieri resigned as MFSA chief in November 2020 following scrutiny of a Las Vegas trip financed by businessman Yorgen Fenech. An internal inquiry found that he had breached ethical guidelines.