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Former Labour Deputy Leader Takes MFSA’s €150,000 Golden Handshake To Court

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Former Labour Deputy Leader and Justice Minister Joe Brincat has filed a judicial protest against the MFSA over the golden handshake awarded to an employee, who was then appointed in the same role at the newly formed Malta Business Registry.

While not explicitly referring to the case, it likely refers to the recent issue surrounding George Spiteri, who was paid €150,000 to retire from the authority and moved on to the Malta Business Registry, which had previously formed part of the MFSA.

Malta Today has reported that Brincat argued the payment breached the rule of law and brought shame up upon the government.

He also says that since the consolidated fund forms part of the MFSA’s budget, no one had the right to use funds in a different manner to that stipulated by Parliament.

“It was recently made public knowledge that you offered payment of a golden handshake to an employee of MFSA (apart from the fact that that the system of early retirement has nothing to do with the case at hand)…and are attempting to arrive at an agreement on the basis of paying a golden handshake and ending the employment relationship.”

“But there is no vote passed through Parliament and neither was there provided that this payment for termination of employment would happen.”

“This is a crime because the money that was entrusted to use should be used for specific purposes and were not a ‘blank cheque’ in your hands,” reads the judicial letter.

The judicial letter calls on the MFSA’s CEO Joseph Cuschieri to rescind the payment, adding that “this is certainly not a private sector or personal business of yours.”

The Auditor-General has also been notified to “exercise his duties before public funds are spent without any legal control or authorisation, as well as examining monies spent by the Consolidated Fund in general over the last few months.”

READ NEXT: Malta Rapped For Money Laundering Failures: ‘Not A Single Financial Professional Charged Recently’

Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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