on his behalf offered Mr Said the post of MTA chair. Nor did he ever offer him any other public board position.

To put the record straight:

1. The Prime Minister never knew who Mr Said was prior to meeting him on 23 December 2007, quite some time after the MTA chair position was last vacant.

2. Neither the Prime Minister, nor anyone on his behalf, ever contacted Mr Said to consider the post.

3. I met Mr Said the first time in March 2005 and I was impressed by his false sense of ‘I know it all and everyone else is … ’ and also his negativity towards everything. This one meeting was enough for me to conclude that Mr Said was not good for the job he eventually lobbied so hard to get.

4. When in July 2006 the post of MTA chair was vacant, in addition to an urgent phone call by Mr Said, I received communications from three different people who had been contacted by him: the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary who had been contacted by Mr Said at his home; a director of a travel company who wrote an email to recommend Mr Said (the only endorsement he got out of all his lobbying); and a prominent business person whom Mr Said wanted to use as his main referee.

5. I met Mr Said for the second time on 10 July 2006 in which he presented the reasons why he thought he would be a good MTA chair. I told him that the next MTA chair would have to have a high level of acceptance from the stakeholders of the tourism sector. I also explained to him that the Tourism Minister would be undertaking formal consultations with various tourism-related organisations concerning this post.

6. Mr Said asked for a meeting with Minister Zammit Dimech. Following this meeting, I sent an email to the minister together with a CV Mr Said has sent me after the first meeting in 2005. I quote from my email: “Mr Said would like to have a meeting with you on tourism-related issues. He has asked me to tell you that he is available should government want to consider him for the post of chair MTA.”

7. I am informed that this meeting was held and that during the meeting between Mr Said and Minister Zammit Dimech, Mr Said lobbied heavily for this position.

8. I am also informed by MHRA officials that Mr Said lobbied heavily with MHRA and that MHRA did not consider him suitable for the post.

9. On 18 July 2006, I received an email from one of the prominent people mentioned above telling me: “I am still being chased by Jo Said regarding MTA post.”

10. Effectively, after all his lobbying, Mr Said managed to get only one individual to endorse him, an individual who only represented himself. This fact in itself confirmed a conclusion I had reached during my first meeting with Mr Said.

To be fair to Mr Said, he had told me in our July 2006 that he was retired and that consequently he had all the time in the world to dedicate to this post. At that time, I had no reasons to doubt Mr Said’s statements!

Edgar Galea Curmi

Head PM’s Secretariat

Office of the Prime Minister