Junior AFM officers who were promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after the last general election have received yet another boost in their ranks less than two and a half years later, while other senior officials were overlooked, even though they are more qualified.
Sources who spoke with The Malta Independent suspect that the four chosen ones were promoted again because of their close friendship with top army officers.
Ten AFM officers ranked as Lieutenant Colonel were eligible to become Colonel. There were four vacancies for the promotion and these were given to four who received a promotion from Major to Lieutenant Colonel in September 2013, just six months after the election. Meanwhile those left out, except one, received their last promotion between 2007 and 2011, making them the most experienced and senior of the eligible group.
The four soldiers who were promoted only two and a half years ago are now ranked as Colonel. As published in The Government Gazette, these are Michael Cardona, Melvyn Haber, Clinton O’Neill and Christopher Attard. These promotions came into effect on 30 March 2016.
AFM sources said that the four officers have mysteriously surpassed the other six officers who “were more experienced and qualified in various fields.” They were chosen for promotion not because of their superior talent or seniority, but because they are the ‘trusted few’ who got promoted during this legislature, furious army officers claim. The four of them also happen to be very close to the Deputy Commander and Commander of the AFM, Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi (photo above), whose appointment was also embroiled in controversy.
Melvyn Haber, who was appointed as Colonel Logistics, was part of the organising committee responsible for Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina last October, when 28 people were injured after a high-end sports car careened out of control into the crowd. Committee members are expected to be arraigned in connection with the accident.
Sources say he is very close to the deputy commander, Mark Mallia. The latter was one of the AFM officers who were appointed colonel after having been promoted to lieutenant colonel just two weeks earlier.
Michael Cardona and Clinton O’Neill are also close friends of Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi. Cardona was appointed as Colonel Finance while O’Neill was appointed as Colonel Operations.
Finally, Christopher Attard was appointed as Colonel Capabilities. This post requires no particular qualifications. AFM sources said that Attard took a considerable amount of sick leave last year because of health problems.
This newsroom sent questions to the AFM asking about these promotions and how they were chosen. The AFM communications officer replied that these promotions were handed “to fill a number of created vacancies. All eligible Lieutenant Colonels were considered and final decision was taken according to the Conditions of Service regulating the Armed Forces of Malta”.
A court case regarding previous fast-paced promotions which happened a few months after the 2013 elections is still going on. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, which fall under the responsibility of the Armed Forces, had filed a court case against the Ombudsman in an attempt to stop him from investigating the suspicious promotions.
The Ombudsman won the case, however the government appealed. The long-standing issue had seemingly been resolved when a judge ruled in mid-October 2015 that the Ombudsman had the authority to investigate complaints by army officers.
The Ombudsman had also told the court he failed to understand why the Home Affairs Minister seemed to be refusing to cooperate in his search for the truth about army promotions and was creating obstacles in every way.
Between 2007 and 2011, Majors Mario Borg, Andrew Mallia, Wallace Camilleri, Albert Brincat and Neville Galea Roberts were promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Since then, these five never received any promotions.
Claudio Terribile was the only one who was promoted in 2013 but was left out of the new promotions.