Exclusive: Tourism Minister abusively returns ‘boarded out’ police officer to government payroll

The Tourism Minister’s ‘head of customer care’, Joseph Howard, was boarded out of the police force around six or seven years ago as being unfit to work for health reasons (mental illness).

After March 2013, Edward Zammit Lewis abusively returned him to the government payroll in a so-called position of trust in his private secretariat, in flagrant breach of the public service regulations which decree that those who are ‘boarded out’ cannot return to state employment.

This case mirrors that of corrupt police inspector Daniel Zammit, who was also boarded out of the police force on grounds of mental illness but then moved into a consultancy post at Enemalta. That position was ended, as far as we were told, when the story broke about this breach of the rules.

Joseph Howard, boarded out of the police force a few years ago as unfit to work; post March 2013 put back on the government payroll in violation of the regulations.

The Tourism Minister with the deputy leader of the Labour Party, an avid collector of consultancy retainers from the government