Galdes ‘parked’ at National Skills Council

Former housing minister Roderick Galdes has been assigned a new managerial job at the National Skills Council following the intervention of Prime Minister Robert Abela, after months of unsuccessful attempts to secure a return to a senior government role, The Shift is informed.

Government sources said Education Minister Byron Camilleri, whose portfolio includes the council, was made to accommodate Galdes after other efforts to place him within the public administration failed.

Galdes has been assigned duties in the council’s events and communications department, reporting to Svetlana Muscat, the former prison official and ONE TV presenter who was herself transferred there following controversy at her previous workplace.

OPM sources described the appointment as a way of “parking” the former minister in a position where he is expected to have little or no influence.

Yet Galdes remains dissatisfied and continues to seek a more senior job, alongside a chairmanship or directorship on one or more government agencies, according to sources familiar with his efforts.

Before the general election, senior officials at the Office of the Prime Minister had promised Galdes the chief executive’s post at Residency Malta Agency, the sources said. That appointment never materialised, and the job was instead given to Kurt Farrugia, leaving Galdes searching for another opening.

Despite intervening to secure his placement at the council, Abela is understood to be keeping the former minister at arm’s length.

Galdes, who describes himself on his social media page as an ‘urban planning consultant’, was a Planning Authority employee before joining Labour’s government executive and sought to return to the authority after being forced to resign from his ministerial post in January.

However, the PA’s chief executive, Johann Buttigieg, and the minister responsible, Jonathan Attard, blocked his return.

Galdes was made to resign from Cabinet in January following controversies and allegations of sleaze involving Malita Investments, property transactions and “hobnobbing” with contractors.

He denied wrongdoing.

Labour’s executive subsequently barred him from contesting the general election.

So far, no criminal charges have been brought against him.

Meanwhile, Galdes’s new superior, Svetlana Muscat, is also a relatively new addition to the NSC.

Last year, The Shift revealed that Muscat had been appointed Director for Marketing and Events on a €61,000 annual package, according to a contract obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Muscat, formerly the prison’s Head of Strategy, was suspended in June 2024 after allowing Yorgen Fenech to hold a meeting in her office, contrary to prison rules.

Police investigated, but no criminal charges followed.

The OPM subsequently ordered her redeployment to the council in a position matching her prison remuneration.

Permanent secretary Joyce Cassar handled the necessary arrangements.