Sports Council lost €4 million in two years

Sports Council chairman Luciano Busuttil said that €4 million from the Sports Council’s coffers ‘disappeared’ between 2011 and March 2013.

“You can’t even begin to imagine how much money was wasted,” Busuttil told Sunday newspaper ILLUM.  “€100,000 were spent to organise the Malta Sports Award whereas we only spent €15,000 on it. They spent €300,000 to build an open gym in Qormi and I now have doubts about how much this gym is used.

“The previous sports council had piled up €700,000 in debt, rising to €1.2 million because of commitments that were already in place.

Busuttil said that the previous sports council had also wasted a ‘shocking’ amount of money on employing excess people on large salaries.

“The new council managed to save €250,000 on excess salaries.” When quizzed by ILLUM as to whether these excess salaries were given to Nationalists, Busuttil simply said that ‘they weren’t Labourites’.

“Moreover, Angelito Scibberas signed a contract for a high managerial position on 8 March, the eve of the national elections,” Busuttil said.

Busuttil said that he requested the government to allot the Sports Council €5 million in the next budget, an increase of €2 million from the previous year.

“The government needs to understand that sports is as important as education and health,” Busuttil said.

Read the full interview in Sunday’s edition of ILLUM.