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Gonzi defends Cachia Caruana €240,000 golden handshake
Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi defends Richard Cachia Caruana's €239,085 severance pay.
10 April 2013, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
2 min read
Lawrence Gonzi with Richard Cachia Caruana
"People should be judged according to the results they obtain and not by their wage packets," Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi said this evening in a brief but vibrant speech in Parliament.
The Opposition leader said that foremer EU ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana was very successful in his job and augured that the Labour government obtains the same positive results on a European level.
Earlier this afternoon, Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said that Malta's former permanent representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana, had received €239,085.05 in terminal benefits when he resigned from the post late last year.
Vella said that the golden handshake was composed of his annual salary of €167,476.88, along with a three-month global emolument amounting to €36,453.23.
Vella also said that Cachia Caruana was compensated for 88 days of leave, which amounted to €35,154.92.
On top of that, Vella said, Cachia Caruana also benefited from a transitional allowance that will last for two years from the day of his resignation, which amounts to €5,923.67 monthly.
Speaking in Parliament, Gonzi said that Cachia Caruana was instrumental in helping Malta bag €1.28 billion in EU funds and explained that it was "absolutely normal" for .ambassadors' to receive termination benefits and allowances when their job is terminated.
Gonzi also hailed the Opposition's "historic" decision to vote in favour of the budget, describing it as a "sign of political maturity." On the other hand, he said the Labour Party had failed a similar test in December when it voted against the budget and discarded the option to file a no-confidence motion after securing the budget's approval in the country's interest.
Gonzi ended his speech by making reference to a Europen Commission economic monitoring report published earlier today, in which it said that Malta's economy was on a sound footing.
"What better certificate could the country get on the day the budget will be approved," Gonzi said, pointing out his previous administration's positive economic record.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
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Dr Gonzi said that people should be judged according to the results they obtain and not by their wage packets. Dr Gonzi you are completely wrong. If one doesn't obtain good results, he/she should be removed. You have personally worked in the private sector, was it acceptable to have someone employed and does not deliver, definately not. Finanzi fis sod, misshom mhumiex Alla jbierek, 6000 euro fix xahar u noqghod id dar.
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Allura dawn ma setghux jibghatuh fuq forced leave ta'88 gurnata u kienu jiffrankaw €35,154.92? Ghax ma ninvestigawx. Dawn flus minfuqa biex inpaxxu 'l tal qalbha.
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RCC ghad ghandu il pulizija mad dar tieghu bil lejl u 2 pulizija skorta warajh kuljum..dan ha jibqa hekk Guz?
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U ejja, so He (please not the capital) was given a golden handshake, one must give him his due he was good, at showing all at Brussels what a piece of work he was! I bet there were a lot of sighs of relief when he resigned. His severance package is tax-free, and this begs the question: is anyone who takes early retirement to be allow to not pay tax on the lump sum??
Is this new policy? A word to government. Please do avoid giving us these gems of information about former office holders of whatever grade unless something is to be done to rectify what is in actual fact just plain scandalous behaviour. Please spare us the pain. Thank you. Ah how about the abolition of prescription NOW!!
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"People should be judged according to the results they obtain ... " Should we judge RCC by the One million Malta Liri for Malta house in Brussels? Is voting for one's own budget a "sign of political maturity."?
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IS THERE SOMEBODY SHARING WITH HIM.WHEN DISGRACED BY PARLIAMENT HE OFFER TO WORK FOR FREE.This is fraud,NO WONDER THE CABINET GOT 600 EUROS RAISE WHEN SOMEBODY WHO WAS NEVER ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE, RULED MALTA AND ROBBED THE MALTESE OF SO MUCH MONEY ,,SURE HE WAS NOT DOING IT FOR THE LOVE HE HAS FOR MALTA
OBSERVER
Emmanuel Mallia •
Is he still at the back seat, controlling PN ? Will he be the adviser of the new leader ?
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I believe this CRIME of stealing the People's Money in such a blatant way to pay exorbitant handshakes to a person who was thrown out by Parliament for abuses perpetrated should be paid back by GONZI and those who covered this up. It is incredible that the holier than thou GONZI should pay these hundreds of thousands when he was killing our people with massive taxes and energy tariffs. The Government must find a way to stop this abuse and take the perpetrators to Court for massive theft of the people's money.
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No wonder Malta is in shumbles with reasoning like this. And who is Dr. Gonzi to give away taxpayers' money to someone who had been voted out, meaning not wanted anymore. Gonzi should be made to pay for this and give back the money to the Maltese coffers. I wonder still whether Dr. Gonzi and previous ministers' ever gave back the 500 Euros a month raise they took for themselves, remembering that they only gave us 1.16Euros a week. This, I am afraid, I consider as stealing from the Maltese people.
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What ever Dr Gonzi says, and he may even be partially right, the pay packet was excessive, corrupt and immoral.
Such exorbitant golden handshakes for the individual concerned means poverty for others, should be regulated by the constitution.
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Do people get benefits when they are sacked? This man was effectively sacked by Parliament representing the people of Malta. It is unbelievable that we, the taxpayers of Malta, should now finance this rich man.
John Mifsud •
How come RCC was compensated for 88 days of vacation leave? According to public service rules, the maximum number of leave one can ever have outstanding is 48 days (24 for current year, 24 for preceding year).
And this at a time where public officers in certain departments were/are put under strong pressure to forgo their leave entitlement!!
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THEN - us three victims of PN injustices and organised crime at Malta International Airport plc. are still waiting, for our arrears on damages caused by FALSE DECLARATIONS AT BOARD AND MINISTERIAL LEVELS Injustices we suffered from way back 1992. INJUSTICES at the hands of Fenech Adami’s and Gonzi’s cronies, who in THEIR turn were also given hundreds of thousands of Euros in Golden Handshakes by Malta International Airport plc. To date the sentences imposed upon the then PN Prime Ministers, including that of the Court of Appeal on the 11th November 2011, have not AS YET been honoured.
Justice delayed is justice denied
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".....said this evening in a brief but vibrant speech in Parliament." One look at the article#'s author and wam bam you realise why the superlative adjective used to describe gonzi's speech "vibrant".
.....""absolutely normal" for .ambassadors' to receive termination benefits and allowances when their job is terminated."..... but mr gonzi RCC did not have his job terminated in a normal manner, he went above board sidestepped parliament and acted with powers which weren't his therefore he should have not got any compensation at all. It was simply an act of legalised thievery by your government.
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UTTERLY PATHETHIC and expected from Dr. Lawrence Gonzi!
He should have paid his obligations to RCCfrom the NP funds not from our taxes after all RCC was part of the PN strategy team and worked for the Nationalist party's interests and NOT THE NATIONAL INTEREST!
But truly was the Head Gonzi or RCC? Just who pulled the strings???
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"People should be judged according to the results they obtain and not by their wage packets,"
Dear Leader of the Opposition,
What did you get when you paid Mr Jaguar MEPA Chairman Eur92,000.00 a year? You got Monkey!!
And what did Malta get when you gave yourself a payrise of Eur600.00 per week? It got bankrupt!!
