UPDATED FURTHER/At least 28 Super One people put on the state payroll since March 2013
UPDATED SINCE THE ORIGINAL POST WITH ENTRIES FOR NORMAN HAMILTON, RAY AZZOPARDI, ALBERT MARSHALL, LEANNE BAJADA, NORMA SALIBA, BRANDON PISANI, RODNEY VASSALLO, DOROTHY FALZON, REUEBEN SCIBERRAS AND DAVID ANTHONY GATT.
Readers have sent in more names – how could I possibly have omitted Norman Hamilton and Ray Azzopardi, of all of them? – but there may be more former Super One people (Super One is the Labour Party’s television and radio station) who have been put on the state pay-roll and who readers will remind us about. Only two of these, Miriam Dalli and Anthony David Gatt, have moved back off the state payroll, when she became a member of the European Parliament in July 2014 and he became her policy officer there.
Fascinatingly, a full four of these Super One reporters – Miriam Dalli, Lindsey Gambin, Krista Caruana and Julia Farrugia – were moved to the state pay-roll by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi immediately he assumed office in March 2013.
Family Minister Michael Farrugia, whose own girlfriend was moved to the state payroll with a senior position at Identity Malta, employs two former Super One reporters – Claudia Cuschieri and Svetlana Muscat – in positions of trust in his private secretariat, and has also engaged as a consultant Cuschieri’s long-term boyfriend, Andy Ellul, a criminal lawyer. Farrugia’s chief of staff, Frank Galea, has a (notorious) son, Iosif Galea, who dates Svetlana Muscat.
NORMAN HAMILTON – former host of Super One’s Saturday show Bla Agenda – now Malta’s High Commissioner in London.
RAY AZZOPARDI (LEFT) – former senior manager, Super One radio – now Malta’s ambassador to Belgium
DOROTHY FALZON – former Super One newscaster – now communications coordinator in the Justice Minister’s private secretariat
BRANDON PISANI – former Super One reporter – now working in the newsroom at TVM
NORMA SALIBA – former sports reporter at Super One – now a show-host and on the newsroom staff at TVM
RODNEY VASSALLO – former sports reporter and newscaster at Super One – now on the newsroom staff at TVM
REUEBEN SCIBERRAS – former Super One newscaster – now communications coordinator in the private secretariat of the Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties
ALBERT MARSHALL – former CEO, Super One TV & Radio – now chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts
ANTHONY DAVID GATT – former Super One reporter – from April 2013 in a position of trust at the Ministry for Europe, since moved to Brussels as Miriam Dalli’s policy officer
LEANNE BAJADA – former Super One newscaster – now in a position of trust in the Transport Minister’s private secretariat
CHARLON GOUDER – former Super One reporter – €41,956 a year as consultant “on various projects and initiatives” to Parliamentary Secretary Jose Herrera. He is paid as a full-time civil servant but is allowed to spend most of his day on his private law practice.
CLAUDIA CUSCHIERI – former Super One reporter and presenter – ‘position of trust’ at the Office of the Prime Minister in March 2013. Later moved to a ‘position of trust’ in the private secretariat of the Family and Social Affairs Minister, where her long-term companion Andy Ellul, a criminal lawyer, has also been given a position of trust as a consultant to the Minister.
DAVINIA SAMMUT HILI – former sports reporter at Super One – now manager, cash & banking operations, Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance.
GLENN BEDINGFIELD – former Super One reporter – now in a position of trust at the Office of the Prime Minister, coordinating replies to parliamentary questions for the Prime Minister and the portfolio for which he is responsible, including Lands.
JASON MICALLEF – still executive chairman of Super One – with change of government was immediately appointed chairman of V18, the outfit which is supposed to handle the organisation of Valletta 2018, European Capital of Culture
JONATHAN ATTARD – former Super One reporter and show-host – now communications coordinator to the Minister for the Economy, often attending meetings – for example, with market-traders – which the Minister does not wish to attend.
JULIA FARRUGIA – former Super One reporter – full-time communications coordinator at Projects Malta (in the portfolio of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi) since 2013. Also receives €900 a month, by direct order, to provide “media consultancy” to the Gozo Minister.
KRISTA CARUANA – former Super One reporter – appointed Director of Client Relations at the state general hospital, Mater Dei, on 1 February last year, without an interview process or call for applications. Before that, she was in a ‘position of trust’ in the private secretariat of Health Minister Konrad Mizzi, having joined his secretariat in March 2013.
KURT FARRUGIA – former Super One reporter – now Chief of Government Communications.
KYLIE VELLA – former Super One reporter – first appointed communications coordinator in the private secretariat of the Tourism Minister, a post which is tied to civil service pay-grades. Her official designation was then switched to ‘public relations consultant’, allowing the Tourism Minister to pay her far more and to give her perks, conditions and allowances at his discretion.
LINDSEY GAMBIN – former Super One reporter – chosen by the Energy Minister as his communications coordinator in March 2013, a post she has held ever since.
MELISSA VELLA BUHAGIAR – former Super One reporter – now Manager for Image Building and Projection at the government’s Department of Information. Before that she was in a ‘position of trust’ as communications coordinator for the politically-appointed principal permanent secretary and cabinet secretary, Mario Cutajar.
MIRIAM DALLI – former Super One reporter and presenter – appointed consultant to the Energy Minister in March 2013 for a year, neatly tiding her over until the European Parliament elections a year later and allowing her to look after her new baby without actually working while still getting paid.
PIERRE CACHIA – former floor manager at Super One – €2,167 a month from the Finance Minister as his PR consultant; €18,404 a year from the Transport Minister to coordinate an anti-litter campaign; €1,180 a month from the Environment Minister for ‘media-related services’. In total, that’s €58,568 a year in retainer fees that leave him free to do his regular work.
QUINTON SCERRI – former Super One reporter and show-host – moved to the permanent pay-roll at Public Broadcasting Services Ltd after March 2013.
RAMONA ATTARD – former Super One reporter – appointed chief of staff to Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg in March 2013, but left that post in mysterious circumstances to become communications coordinator to Minister of the Interior Manuel Mallia, controversially keeping the higher salary of a chief of staff. When Mallia was fired, Ramona Attard, instead of losing her job as is usual in these situations, moved to the Office of the Prime Minister as a part-time consultant on €32,000 a year.
SVETLANA MUSCAT – former Super One show-host – now assistant communications coordinator in the private secretariat of the Family and Social Affairs Minister, where her boyfriend’s father is chief of staff. Her boyfriend is Iosif Galea (snus, Gaming Authority, John Dalli, Gayle Kimberley, Spanish hotel) father is chief of staff.
TRISCHIA FALZON – still a Super One reporter – has been put on the payroll at Air Malta, working on its check-in desks, while still working for the Labour Party station. She is the step-daughter of Frank Zammit, John Dalli’s henchman and sidekick of many years.
And of course we can’t leave out Super One reporter Janice Bartolo, who has not found herself a position on the state payroll but has instead found one in the Justice Minister’s bed, as his official mistress.