Johann Buttigieg handed out €120,000 euro in taxpayers’ money to Nicholas Wright, a pollster who helped Labour win the 2013 election. A National Audit Office investigation found absolutely no trace of why Buttigieg awarded Wright the lucrative consultancy contract in 2013. There was no record of what Wright delivered. The investigation found that Johann Buttigieg gave conflicting statements.

The data protection commissioner found “serious concerns” and was “not satisfied” with MEPA’s record keeping which “did not augur well for transparency and accountability”.

Johann Buttigieg was the executive chairman of MEPA, given the direct appointment within days of Labour’s victory.  Buttigieg had been a case officer with only a first degree in Urban planning.  And not a good one either.

In August 2012 the MEPA auditor demanded disciplinary action against Buttigieg in a report on the ta’ Habel Bellu development. The auditor declared that the permit for the development should be withdrawn being based on a false or deceptive report that Buttigieg and another case officer had issued.

Buttigieg was also the case officer for application PA01452/11 for the Qawra aquarium. One of the partners behind the aquarium was hotelier Adrian Buttigieg. But Johann Buttigieg’s wife, Loraine, was in business with Buttigieg through MMB Ltd.  Johann Buttigieg admitted being a long-time close friend of Adrian yet did not feel that he had to recuse himself from his friend’s application.

So why did Parliamentary Secretary Michael Farrugia appoint Johann Buttigieg MEPA executive chairman without as much as a call for application? How could a case officer with minimal qualifications and a questionable record become the executive chairman? Farrugia’s answer: “Because I can trust him and he will provide me with the precise information about what is going on”. Not because of his competence, qualifications or merit, but simply for his unwavering loyalty. Despite his limited qualifications, Buttigieg received one of the highest salaries - close to €100,000 annually.

Daphne Caruana Galizia had written about Buttigieg’s friendship with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. She reported in August 2014 that Buttigieg and his wife had spent the Santa Maria holiday at a 5-star hotel in Gozo with Joseph and Michelle Muscat and Keith Schembri and his wife. Buttigieg never denied the report.

Buttigieg messed it up at the PA. In 2016, Buttigieg was accused of conflict of interest when the same hotelier and friend Adrian Buttigieg was granted permission for a 2-storey extension to his Mellieha hotel. Johann travelled to London in 2014, just a year before the permit was issued, stayed at the Royal Garden Hotel, London and watched a Manchester United-Chelsea match with the hotelier. When asked who had procured the tickets to the Premier league match, his answer was “a mutual friend called Steve”!

In March 2017, while CEO of the Planning authority, Buttigieg attended a party to celebrate Silvio Debono’s wedding anniversary. Debono was already selling flats at St George’s Bay for which Buttigieg’s planning authority had not even issued permits. Debono hadn’t even paid for the public land on which those flats would be built.

In July 2019, the constitutional court found that Buttigieg’s authority had breached the fundamental human rights of Caruana Galizia’s family.  It ordered the PA to pay €20,000 euro in compensation. Buttigieg had personally ordered that a banner demanding the truth on Daphne’s murder be removed from private property. Buttigieg confirmed that he gave the order.  It was Buttigieg’s direct action that breached fundamental human rights. The €20,000 fine, of course, did not come out of Buttigieg’s salary.

By late 2019 the ex-case officer was facing criticism even from the Labour government over sensitive leaks about controversial planning permits. He was forced to step down from the PA.

Buttigieg he “made it clear he would only consider a high-level executive post - preferably at the Malta Tourism Authority or Mater Dei Hospital”.  This man had absolutely no experience or qualification in health management or tourism and part of his track record at the PA had been controversial.

Yet just weeks later he was appointed CEO of Malta Tourism Authority, a job created for him. Gavin Gulia’s post of chairman was split in two with Gulia becoming chairman and Buttigieg CEO - two fat salaries for one job, if that, in Konrad Mizzi’s ministry.

Soon after Minister Mizzi was forced to resign in disgrace, followed by Joseph Muscat. And Johann Buttigieg was there to hand his ex-boss Konrad Mizzi a €90,000 consultancy at MTA on the direct instructions of his protector Joseph Muscat. Buttigieg broke all the rules - he did not discuss the contract with the Board, drafting and signing the contract himself leaving no documentation whatsoever.

To cap it all, Buttigieg dined with Yorgen Fenech three times while CEO of MTA. He even attended a party at Fenech’s Zebbug ranch. But Buttigieg assures us that those meetings, including the party, were strictly work-related.

Johann Buttigieg has cost the taxpayer over €1 million euro - €700,000 in salaries, €120,000 paying Nicholas Wright, €20,000 for breaching human rights, €90,000 per year for Konrad Mizzi. He was condemned by the MEPA auditor, the National Audit Office, the Data Protection Commissioner and the Constitutional Court.

This is Joseph Muscat’s legacy - a parade of under-qualified, inexperienced, arrogant and incompetent political stooges willing to break the rules at Muscat’s direction while running the country’s main authorities. That legacy is perpetuated by Robert Abela’s wilful inaction. If Robert Abela had the country’s interest at heart, he would instantly remove Buttigieg.  In a functioning state, Buttigieg would not only be sacked but his actions would be investigated.