Former PBS presenter earned around €34,000 in 10 months

Former TVM presenter Norman Vella, who was last week notified of his redeployment to the immigration department, was earning up to €3,400 a month during his stint at the national broadcaster.

Sources told MaltaToday that the former afternoon show presenter was engaged by PBS on a €16,850 annual salary. Moreover, Vella earned €100 for each programme he presented during his ten-month stint at PBS.

This remuneration was shared between the national broadcaster and the programme's producers, and Vella's former employers Where's Everybody.

Last week, Vella claimed that the decision by the Office of the Prime Minister to revoke his deployment at the national broadcaster was a "political" one.

In his ten-month stint, stretching from September 2012 to June 2013, Vella earned around €34,000 for presenting the daily afternoon show TVHEMM five times a week.

Last week, Vella received an email from the OPM saying he was to report to the Department of Immigration, where he was previously employed, as from Monday, "on grounds of public policy".

MaltaToday is also informed that despite being employed as a journalist on a €1,400 monthly wage, Vella was rarely seen at the PBS offices in Gwardamangia, where the station's newsroom is located.

However, sources told MaltaToday that in recent weeks, Vella was visited different PBS departments, including the station's archives, to ask if there were any jobs he could take up.

Before being employed as a journalist by PBS in November 2012, Vella's five-year stint at production house Where's Everybody? was approved by the then head of the civil service Godwin Grima; and a subsequent secondment to PBS was also sanctioned by the PN administration in 2012.

Vella was employed by PBS as a full-time journalist in November 2012, after being informed that his entitlement for unpaid leave from the Department of Immigration had been exhausted in August 2012.

It was at this stage that the Public Broadcasting Services' chief executive, Anton Attard, asked that Vella be seconded to PBS.

According to information seen by this newspaper, Vella was granted an additional two years beyond the maximum three-year unpaid leave by the then head of the civil service "personally".

Grima granted Vella an additional two years of unpaid leave since the public service management code had not been updated.

When Vella was informed that his five-year unpaid leave had been exhausted, Attard requested that Vella be seconded to the national broadcaster, for which approval came directly from the Office of the Prime Minister.

His one-year unpaid leave to join Where's Everybody? was approved in May 2007 and subsequently renewed in June 2008 and August 2009.

In May 2010, Vella asked the principal permanent secretary to explore further possibilities which would allow him to work in the private sector while retaining his position in the public service.

The request was discussed in a meeting between Grima and the head of the Management Personnel Office, where the director of employee relations recommended that Vella's approval be extended beyond three years "on account of the experience he is gaining, which will be beneficial to the public service".

However, since the public service management code had to be updated for the maximum three-year unpaid leave to be extended, Vella was granted his extension on a personal recommendation from civil service head Godwin Grima in June 2010. Another extension for his fifth year came in July 2011.

The policy was eventually updated on 18 May 2012 to allow all civil servants up to five years' unpaid leave to seek alternative employment.