News • January 04 2004

Former minister states that Louis Grech’s 56K is news to him

Matthew Vella

The same minister who was responsible for Air Malta in the years between 1998 and 2003, told MaltaToday it was "news" for him to see a corporate communications coordinator from Austin Gatt’s Ministry citing Lm55,933 as the yearly remuneration of Louis Grech, Air Malta chairman, for the year 2002 to 2003.
Speaking to MaltaToday, Prof Josef Bonnici said he had no reason to doubt Louis Grech’s own claims about his wage packet, in which he has declared he earned a gross wage of around Lm23,000. Bonnici had kept Louis Grech as Air Malta chairman when the Nationalists were returned to Parliament in 1998. Louis Grech who is standing as a labour candidate in the next European Parliament elections had been appointed chairman of the national airline by Alfred Sant, replacing Joseph N. Tabone.
Manuel Delia, corporate communications coordinator at the Ministry of IT and Investments has finally confirmed that Louis Grech’s wage packet in the year 2002 to 2003 was that of Lm55,933. His pay packet was increased in the year that Air Malta suffered massive losses and when Josef Bonnici was a Nationalist Minister responsible for Air Malta. Mr Grech has been very unclear about his last salary, carefully differentiating between one salary and his accumulated salary. The salary of Lm56K does not include Mr Grech’s expense account.
Mr Delia said that cabinet guidelines for chairmen of entities such as Air Malta allow for an income of around Lm7,000. In the last financial year Mr Grech was paid over Lm55,000.
"Most of this expense has now been saved. This is but one of many cuts needed to return Air Malta to a profitable scenario."
Manuel Delia said that in his speech in Parliament, Minister Austin Gatt was comparing the 2003 and the 2002 chairman salaries within the context of the Cabinet guidelines. "The argument was not based on Mr Grech, but on how we were ensuring across the board expenditure cuts, especially in Air Malta which lost Lm16 million in the period in which Mr Grech oversaw an increase in his income.
"The Minister was giving Parliament a snapshot of the companies within his responsibility as and when he was given responsibility for them and was not providing some account of their performance over the past 5 years. It is important that this perspective is retained."
IT and Investments Minister Austin Gatt recently revealed in Parliament details of Grech’s exorbitant Lm56,000 wage packet, a figure which is emerging to have been made in the last year of Grech’s chairmanship. Former minister Bonnici told MaltaToday he had never encountered any opposition from the Cabinet on Grech’s remuneration.
According to the IT and Investments Ministry, in the financial year 2002 to 2003, Grech earned the sum of Lm55,933 from the Air Malta Group and its subsidiaries. Grech declared that most of the increases in subsidiary and non-subsidiary income had been made late into his chairmanship and that in six years and nine months, his allowances had amounted to Lm154,000 gross.
Josef Bonnici told MaltaToday he had no reason to doubt what Grech had told The Times about his salary as chairman of the national airline, in which Grech claimed his allowances in six years had amounted to Lm154,000 gross, a gross average earning of Lm22,300 every year.
Bonnici told MaltaToday he had kept Louis Grech on board at Air Malta with the same basic wage packet negotiated with him by Alfred Sant, Prime Minister between 1996 and 1998.
According to Louis Grech, most of the increases in his subsidiary and non-subsidiary income had been made later into his
chairmanship.

matthew@newsworksltd.com