Robert Abela Dodges PN MP’s Questions On Full Cost Of Joseph Muscat’s Severance Package
Prime Minister Robert Abela has once again dodged PN MP Graham Bencini’s parliamentary question enquiring about how much Joseph Muscat’s severance package is costing taxpayers.
The first time Bencini questioned Abela on the matter was on 9th March, where Abela provided an answer as to what was included in Muscat’s package – but he failed to provide the full cost.
Since then, Bencini has posed the same question twice, with Abela replying saying that “an answer will be provided in the next sitting” – however, weeks later, an answer has still not been provided.
“Although I have now submitted three PQs asking for the total cost of the severance package of Muscat, Abela keeps telling me that he will give me a reply in another sitting,” Bencini told Lovin Malta.
Graham Bencini's latest PQ
“The first time he completely ignored my request for the cost. When I submitted a subsidiary PQ specifically asking for the cost, he told me that he will give me a reply in another sitting. So I resubmitted the same PQ immediately and once again he told me that he will give me a reply in another sitting.”
“It is in the public’s interest to know exactly how much Muscat’s severance package is costing them,” Bencini stressed.
“Ultimately it is the people that are paying for Muscat’s perks following his forced resignation, so they have a right to know.”
“But clearly, Abela does not want them to know. I will keep on doing my duty and keep on insisting on full transparency with regard to the use of public funds,” he assured.
Through Bencini’s first question, it was revealed that taxpayers are practically funding all of Muscat’s basic necessities, such as a personal assistant, €2.3k in calls, wifi, a paid car with a driver, two landlines, a computer with a printer and scanner, a transitional allowance, the use of an office, a copy of the Government gazette, and the use of a second car, which his wife Michelle Muscat is using.
Muscat’s severance package was approved back in 2019, while he stepped down as Prime Minister in January 2020 following a political crisis that linked his office to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Joseph Muscat's severance package
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