Shadow Finance Minister ‘Shocked’ That Foreigners Received €9 Million In Pre-Election Cheques
Shadow Minister for Finance Graham Bencini is “shocked” that people without Maltese citizenship received over €9 million worth of cheques in the pre-election period.
“Learning that over €9 million has been paid out of tax payer money to people of foreign nationality in the three weeks prior to the recent EU and Local council elections, is of course shocking,” Bencini told Lovin Malta.
Through two parliamentary questions, Bencini inquired into how many of the 269,563 cheques given between the start of May till 6th June were given to people without citizenship as well as the subsequent amount and reason
It turns out that €9,111,605 worth of cheques went to persons without Maltese citizenship, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana’s response reveals.
In general, the 269,563 cheques were given out as part of the scheme ‘We Reward Hard Work’ which was implemented annually in 2018 and seeks to compensate workers in the country under the idea that those who earn the least get the largest compensation.
Of this amount, 185,202 cheques were addressed to people with Maltese citizenship while the remaining 84,361 were distributed to persons without this status.
Bencini further inquired into the breakdown of nationalities of the 84,361 persons outlined above as well as the full amount and reasons for these cheques.
Caruana responded by saying that the data detailing nationalities is unavailable and stated that the total amount of the cheques dispersed to people without Maltese citizenship is €9,117,605. He did not divulge the reasons for this number.
“Although I asked the Minister of Finance for the reason for the payment of these cheques to these people, the Minister ignored that part of my question and up until today, we do not know the reason for the payment of such a staggering amount. Seeing that this multi-million payment was paid out of tax payers’ funds, I will be chasing the Minister of Finance for an explanation since we owe the Maltese people an explanation of how their taxes are being spent by government.”
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