Every day, you pay for a car and chauffeur to take Franco Debono to Valletta to defend criminals

Published: November 9, 2014 at 12:21am

FRANCO DEBONO 5

As part of the deal he struck with Labour, Franco Debono has a chauffeur-driven car at his disposal every day. This is supposed to be part of his package as Law Commissioner, but he doesn’t get the use of them only when he is busy on Law Commission work.

Like cabinet ministers, he has both car and chauffeur at his disposal all the time. But unlike cabinet ministers, the deal he struck with Labour allows him to carry on with his private work – in his case, as a criminal defence lawyer.

Every morning, the Law Commissioner is there at the law courts, fighting for the rights of a Liquorice Allsorts assortment of delinquents.

He gets there in chauffeured comfort on public money, and he returns home in chauffeured comfort on public money too. And when he chooses not to go straight back home, and to hang around drinking at the Ordnance Pub near his office instead, the car and chauffeur wait outside until he’s done.

It feels good to know that the electorate is helping cut down on the work-related expenses of a criminal defence lawyer engaged in work for his private office.

I think we should be told whether that man’s phone bills are also paid for with public money under his deal with Labour. He makes a lot of those.




20 Comments Comment

  1. kapxinn says:

    “The Law Commissioner, in stylish green pants and trademark t-shirt and pose, just before being pushed into the sea by an eager fan who jumped over to hug him.”

  2. ciccio says:

    We have to admit it: this government leads by example. One day the Parliamentary Secretary for Tits Chris Fearne promotes breast feeding, and the next day we are inundated with examples of government officials heeding his advice: kollha jerdghu miz-zejza.

    This government sucks.

  3. matt says:

    Why the public is not angry? Why is the PN so afraid to expose this fraud? Here is a topic for Norman Vella programme..

    • Norman Vella says:

      There is no such thing as a “Norman Vella programme”. Newsfeed is a production of Net TV’s newsroom. My role in it is that of co-presenter.

  4. Tal-Malja says:

    At least, we’re not paying for his condoms.

  5. Changing of the guard says:

    We are not paying Franco Debono’s expenses, the repercussions of this are much deeper so do not be fooled.

    If he has private use of the vehicle then the cost of the car, its maintenance, fuel allowance, depreciation, insurance, road tax, VRT testing cost, the driver’s wages, national insurance contribution and replacement when sick or on leave is actually an overhead expence for Franco Debono’s criminal defence business.

    The fact that he is getting all this free of charge means that he can charge the criminal at a lower rate therefore we are paying part of the private defence costs of criminals. This also means that Franco Debono can charge the criminal less than his fellow criminal lawyers would because they are not getting the perks of priviate use of benefits attached to public office.

    How is that for unfair advantage?

  6. Banana republic ... again says:

    Shame on you, Joseph!

  7. Ordnance says:

    Yeah, he must meet up with his mate Economy Minister Chris Cardona, whose driver seems to have a permanent parking spot in the Ordnance Street vicinity, close to the Stable pub in Sappers Street.

    One wonders what they all get up to in that dark, seedy and disreputable bar. How do I know? Well, I guess I’m as disreputable as them. However, I do it on my own funds.

  8. Josette says:

    Pathetic – what a bighead.

  9. Gaetano Pace says:

    Din x`inhi hawn Malta? Kull min jitla bicca targa jispicca jitla fuq yacht.

    Bhal qisu qata xewqtu li jirkeb fuq vapur li kien jara ankrat meta l-mummy kienet tiehdu passiggata u tixtrilu gelat tas-Sliema jew il-Yacht Marina.

    Sakemm ma jkunx irid jghid lil mummy li issa li lahaq ghamel kapricc u xtara yacht second hand mill-Ingilterra u qed jistenna li tghidilha Daphne.

  10. Gaetano Pace says:

    Se mmut bil-piena. Mhux ser naqta xewqti u nara jekk Franco Debono kienx hafi jew bil-plimsolls fuq il-yacht. Iccensurawlu l-bicca t-isfel ir-ritratt.

  11. Madoff says:

    Taf li tixraqlu l-lehja……Guda.

  12. Peter Bloom says:

    According to media reports, the Law Commissioner is now identifying useless or outdated laws, presumably so that they be abolished by an “omnibus” Act of Parliament.

    What an intellectually challenging exercise! This weeding is something that even the most junior legal procurator in the Attorney General’s Office, or indeed a third-year law student, should be capable of doing (less expensively and probably more efficiently).

  13. Imbruljun says:

    Dak li hemm mieghu x-xufier tieghu ?

  14. Taylor Swift says:

    Haters gonna hate, hate, hate

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