The man to whom Joseph gave a cool €1 million takes us on a tour of his fabulous home

The Malta Tourism Authority, on specific instructions from the Office of the Prime Minister, has given Thomas Flohr, the man showing off his house in this video, €1 million in Maltese taxpayer funds.

The money has been transferred to his company, Vistajet – which owns a fleet of private jets which fly the rich around the globe – disguised as payment for advertising in its inflight magazine.

Yes, that’s right: they would have us believe that they gave him €1 million as an advertising block booking for an on-board magazine that is seen by almost nobody.

This €1 million donation, for that is what it is in effect, was not put on the agenda for discussion by the Malta Tourism Authority board, let alone their approval. One board member – five of the 11 are appointed to represent the private sector – said: “And meanwhile, the Malta Tourism Authority has been forced to take out an interest-bearing loan of €400,000 to reimburse consumers who lost money when Fantasy Tours went bankrupt in 2013.”

The video comes from this feature in The New York Times.