Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat got a termination package worth over €120,000, The Shift News has revealed.

Muscat resigned in January 2020, amid claims of links between people in the Office of the Prime Minister and the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The severance package is equivalent to two years of the prime minister’s salary.

According to The Shift News, Muscat was given a one-time payment of €120,128.40.

He also continued to draw his parliamentary honoraria until October 2020, when he resigned as MP.

This benefit covers his time as leader of the Opposition and as Prime Minister, spanning from October 2008 til January 2020.

The termination benefit was granted to the former PM as part of the Terminal and Transitional Benefit scheme, which was introduced by a Nationalist government in 2004.

All Prime Ministers, Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Opposition Leaders are entitled to this benefit upon termination of their employment.

A document tabled in Parliament by then PM Lawrence Gonzi in 2008 states that prime ministers are entitled to a terminal benefit that is equivalent to a month’s salary for every year of continuous service in the post.

There is, however, a minimum benefit equivalent to six months’ salary.

Last year, the OPM had refused to tell The Malta Independent what Muscat’s severance package was. Using the above policy, this newsroom had calculated that Muscat’s package amounted to around €135,000 over three years.

Reacting, Muscat said this was a standard procedure that regulates the compensation given to persons in high positions, and for which he qualified as a former PM.

He said he had asked for a copy of the information given to The Shift News, adding that some parts had been “censored” by the news portal.

While confirming that he had received the sum of €120,000, Muscat insisted he had renounced other transitional allowances he was entitled to.

He also said he had paid €41,633 in tax, and the remaining balance was €78,495.40.

Muscat said former PM Lawrence Gonzi had been given €72,901.65 and a transitional allowance of €8,737.30, for a total of €81,638.

Simon Busuttil had been given €23,371 for serving four years as Opposition Leader.

Richard Cachia Caruana, who was not an elected official, had been given €179,931.34 “tax free.”

On top of this, he was given €36,453.25 as notice after Parliament voted against him, and another €39,549.28 for leave he had not used up, for a total of €255,933.87.

As for the Parliamentary honoraria he continued to draw until his resignation, Muscat said he had done the same as Lawrene Gonzi and Simon Busuttil before him.

“There is no secret here, in fact, I have declared everything in my Declaration of Assets despite no longer being an MP,” Muscat said.

In a reaction, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said it was “unacceptable” for PM Robert Abela to “gift” Muscat €120,000 and keeping it secret after the former PM had resigned “for reasons everyone knows about.”

In a Facebook post, Grech noted that Abela had served as consultant to Muscat and was “aware” of the corruption that took place during those eight years.

Because he wanted “continuity” with his predecessor, Abela thanked Muscat by giving him a gift that is equivalent to six years’ salary of a normal working man.

“This is what makes Labour. It boasts of being a government of the people while at the same time robbing you like it is doing on energy bills.”

Grech said the PN believes in politics that place people at its centre and where common wealth reaches everyone because it belongs to all.