A director of the government company that gave a phantom job to one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s killers is also the head of Malta’s Planning Commission for Outside Development Zone (ODZ) and Urban Conservation Areas.

Elizabeth Ellul is listed as a member of the Housing Maintenance and Embellishment Company (HPMU), presumably in a non-executive role.

Her husband is also an architect who works for property developer Joseph Portelli, known to be very close to the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff Keith Schembri.

Schembri resigned after becoming a person of interest in the murder investigation.

When contacted about her role on the board and whether she had any involvement in getting Melvin Theuma a job, Ellul told Lovin Malta to send any questions to the ministry.

Asked whether she had a conflict of interest between her position in the HPMU and her role in planning, she said: “Don’t start again. I have no conflicts of interest. Don’t start again.”

Asked what she meant by “don’t start again”, given that Lovin Malta has never spoken to her before, Ellul said: “Ask The Times.”

This was probably a reference to a story published in Times of Malta last August which claimed her husband was working for the developer of  a controversial villa in the Qala countryside, whose application was being heard by the same commission.

Meanwhile, Lovin Malta is awaiting replies from the Family Ministry about how much Theuma was paid for a job he was never even briefed about and never showed up for. Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes was also asked whether he would be launching an investigation into such phantom jobs.

So far, Lovin Malta is informed that Theuma’s job was terminated in September 2017 due to the fact that he did not report to work. He was given a job in May 2017 according to records that were published yesterday after the Head of Civil Service denied that there were any records.

Lovin Malta also spoke to HPMU’s board secretary Gavin Gulia who specified that he had no executive role and was only responsible for taking minutes.

“I don’t even speak during meetings, let alone handle recruitment,” he said, adding that executive matters were the responsibility of the CEO.

When Lovin Malta contacted CEO George Lauria, he simply said questions should be sent to the ministry.

Lovin Malta is informed that his predecessor Tony Muscat was responsible at the time. Efforts to contact him have not yet been successful.