Snouts in the trough – the latest update
Now that I’ve found myself at the trough, I’m going to stick my snout right in it.
“Prosit, Dward – nahseb dak il-car lease daqs il-blokka silg tieghi jiswa.”
The Sunday Times reports today that the Minister for the Economy, Chris Cardona, and his office underling Edward Zammit Lewis have spent €108,000 on leasing cars for themselves.
The Economy Ministry has justified its decision to spend more than €108,000 in long-lease agreements for two ministerial cars, arguing that purchasing new vehicles would have been more expensive due to maintenance costs.
According to a list of contracts awarded by the Director Corporate Services published in the Government Gazette on January 3, two direct orders were issued to lease cars for Economy Minister Chris Cardona and Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness Edward Zammit Lewis.
Eyebrows were raised when it transpired the combined cost of these five-year lease agreements was €108,587, because buying new vehicles would have cost less.
The government is exempt from paying registration tax on new vehicles.
The total cost of Dr Cardona’s lease was €53,837 whereas Dr Zammit Lewis’s was slightly higher at €54,750.
I can add a human-interest note to that. Edward Zammit Lewis’s very expensively leased car was spotted delivering gas cylinders to his home in Lija on a Saturday morning before Christmas – ma jmurx jispiccala l-gas, Elena, u Edward ikollu jiekol id-dundjan nej.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140112/local/Ministry-justifies-108-000-car-lease-contract.502256#.UtMlLvsueV4
What’s the duration of these long leases? In the UK, at that price. You can lease a Rolls Royce for a year.
Don’t give them any more delusions of grandeur.
The report states five years.
Car lease contractual arrangements can be so complex they can drive you up the pole.
Budgetary suggestion.
Rickshaws.
Holds 2 to 3 adults. Cost, 1975 Uk pounds plus vat.
Power assist, 595 UK pounds plus vat.
Rain cover, 149 Uk pounds plus vat.
My rough calulations indicate that ALL, not each, Socialist MP can be transported to wherever they desire for less than 140,000 Euros.annually employing an environmentally friendly mode of transport. Plus enjoying the fresh air.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
They’re going to bankrupt Malta and the only way out they can see is selling passports. And the people are still in a trance.
There should be a PQ asking from whom were these two cars leased, their relationship, business or otherwise with the two politicians, the payback paid back, and what would have been the cost of a similar lease calculated as an arm’s length transaction.
Checked out prices for car leasing and for 54700 euro lease, you can get a car complete with a pole in the back seat.
Will the dancer be an extra?
So Edward Zammit Lewis’s very expensively leased car was spotted delivering gas cylinders to his home in Lija on a Saturday morning before Christmas.
He could have got word that gas prices were going to rise within a few days.
12 kg LPGs price rose by 90 cents.
So the Economy Minister and his underling Zammit Lewis are spending more on their car leases than the prime minister is, though the prime minister’s lease money goes back into his own pocket.
I always suspected that Chris Cardona would challenge even his closest buddies when competing for pole-position. I have been proven correct.
It would be interesting to know the name of the lessor.
Did you watch the breakfast programme on TVM this morning? I have never seen a more unbelievably arrogant performance as that given by Veronique Dalli in her ‘discussion’ against Gejtu Vella. Her attitude was insufferable.
I turned on TVM when she was uttering her last concluding sentence, and believe me, I formed the same view from that. What was she discussing there?
The fault lies with Gejtu for letting her do the show. This happening so often in this programme. Often it is three against one.
I understand that BMW offer the option of a small up front payment to cover all maintenance costs for 5/10 years – would make it cheaper to buy than to lease. Who, in their right mind, would lease you a car and not make money out of the transaction?
Exactly, as if leasing a car doesn’t mean paying for its maintenance.
From “Stop this world” by Diana Krall:
Stop this world, let me off
There’s just too many pigs in the same trough
There’s too many buzzards sitting on the fence
Stop this world, it’s not making sense
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-RHavPLPnQ
A new luxury car that is used only for ministerial duties – which are pretty light anyway – should not need all that maintenance in its first few years on the road.
The Opposition should insist that the costings behind this decision are published.
Does delivering gas cylinders to one’s home, or transporting children to football practice constitute ministerial duty? Are there no limits on how a ministerial car and police escort (no, not that kind) can be used?
And then they complained about the 500 euros “minn flus il-poplu” that the PN introduced. This is far more worse; it is actually a “pay-myself-scheme”. Well, you know, as long as it is “official”. Again, well done switchers. Your vote is making these cronies become richer by the day.
The only benefit we had of this is that if Joseph thinks or dreams he could do something, his subordinates can do better. He got the allowance, they got the lease. No wonder Marie Louise Coleiro is so preoccupied that the poor people of Malta are going from bad to worse to hopeless. At this rate even the coffers will soon run dry.
They could have employed a person for five years with that money.
Doesn’t Chris Cardona already have a GM car?