It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. While students sat sweating through their lessons, Farrugia was living like a luxury influencer on a government salary.

Malta has around 100 state schools. A decent air conditioner costs roughly €500. That means the €2.3 million she allegedly siphoned off could have bought 4,600 air conditioners, or about 46 units per school, with change leftover.

And here’s the kicker: Farrugia was absolutely right. It is unacceptable that Maltese classrooms still don’t have proper cooling in 2025. And it does beg the question — how can a government that spends nearly a billion euro a year on education, and likely millions in corruption, not sort out something as basic as classroom temperature control?

MCAST, for its part, somehow failed to notice that millions were disappearing under its nose. Which begs another question — who was auditing what? How does a public education institution misplace that kind of money and carry on business as usual?

There’s no denying Farrugia’s alleged actions are shameless. But the real scandal is how easy it was for her to get away with it for so long. This wasn’t one clerical error — it was a systemic failure, made worse by a total lack of oversight. And now that the money’s gone, the classrooms are still sweltering, the ACs still aren’t installed, and the Ministry still hasn’t answered for it.

Lovin Malta reached out to MCAST for comment but had not received a response at the time of writing.