Former General Workers Union Secretary General Tony Zarb will serve as a part-time consultant for Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Konrad Mizzi, an OPM spokesperson has confirmed.

This newsroom originally received a tip stating that Tony Zarb was given some form of role with the Office of the Prime Minister. When contacted, Tony Zarb himself said he had no contract with OPM, however chose not to answer when asked whether he was given a consultancy role.

As such, this newsroom asked the OPM to confirm whether the information obtained by this newsroom was true. Questions asked included a request for information about his role, whether he will hold a position with another ministry and a request for information about his remuneration package.

These questions were sent on Thursday.

This newsroom contacted Mr Zarb again yesterday, and again challenged him with the question as to what his role is within OPM. He said “I am informed that you’ve already been given the answer”. This newsroom told Mr Zarb that OPM had not yet sent us a response, to which he said: “then I will check as they were meant to answer”.

A response from the OPM was then received later in the day. “Mr Toni Zarb (sic) will serve as a part-time consultant to the minister OPM (sic) and will support policy and implementation of initiatives. Contract has not yet been signed and discussions are still under way”.

Tony Zarb stepped down from the post of GWU Secretary General last October and was replaced by Josef Bugeja.

Mr Zarb joined the union in 1981 and moved up the ranks until he was elected as secretary general, a post he held for 16 years.

Minister Konrad Mizzi was at the centre of a massive scandal following the release of the Panama Papers, where it was found that he acquired a company in the secretive jurisdiction of Panama.