Exclusive: Edward Scicluna Will Only Receive Half Pay As Suspended Central Bank Governor
Edward Scicluna will only receive half his salary after he was suspended as Central Bank Governor, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced in an exclusive interview with Lovin Malta.
“The civil service rules state that when a worker is suspended pending criminal charges, they should only receive half their salary,” Abela said. “I believed that this was a more reasonable solution and Prof. Scicluna agreed to be treated in the same manner as other civil servants with pending criminal procedures.”
This means that Scicluna’s annual salary has gone down from €138,000 to €69,000.
Abela also confirmed that the European Central Bank had informed the government that it was ready to defend Scicluna in the European courts if Cabinet decided to remove him and Scicluna decided to open a court case.
The ECB had taken a similar stance when Latvia’s former Central Bank Governor Ilmārs Rimšēvičs was accused of accepting bribes and a fishing trip to Russia from shareholders of a now defunct bank. Rimšēvičs was later sentenced to six years in prison.
Abela said that, despite this EU law granting immunity to Central Bank Governors, he was conscious that Malta’s global financial reputation could take a hit if Scicluna remained in charge.
“I inherited a government that had done a lot of good things but that was also facing major challenges, including FATF grey-listing. I didn’t want to sacrifice a potential reevaluation by Moneyval.”
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