We should be told which lawyers were paid €260,494 under direct order by Konrad Mizzi in January last year

The National Audit Office reports that in January 2014, Konrad Mizzi’s Health & Energy Ministry spent €260,494, split into three separate payments of €84,031, €63,622 and €53,537, on legal services.

The report says that only the payment of €53,537 is accounted for because “no definite approval from the Ministry of Finance was traced in relation to two of the three payments selected for review”.

The report also points out that because the amount far exceeds €120,000 – the regulatory limit for these sorts of payments – there should have been a public call for offers, and a contract notice published in the Official Journal of the European Community.

The National Audit Office said that no contract of service was drawn up between the government and the lawyers.