Cassola requests ethics probe into Ian Borg over €60,000 direct order to adviser’s daughter

The Standards Commissioner has been asked to investigate a lucrative consultancy contract awarded by the Infrastructure Ministry to a lawyer, who turns out to be the daughter of Ian Borg's top adviser

Arnold Cassola (left) has asked the Standards Commissioner to investigate Transport Minister Ian Borg over direct order to adviser's daughter
Arnold Cassola (left) has asked the Standards Commissioner to investigate Transport Minister Ian Borg over direct order to adviser's daughter

Arnold Cassola is calling for Ian Borg to be investigated by the Standards Commissioner after a €60,000 direct order was awarded to the daughter of a top adviser within his ministry.

Cassola submitted the request to the Commissioner for Standards on Monday morning.

"[Ian Borg] needs to be investigated over three things: fraud, by employing someone as a lawyer while she was only a student; nepotism and favouritism, because she is the daughter of someone politically and professionally close to him; reasons for issuing a direct order," Cassola said in his letter, which was also released to the press.

The Times of Malta reported on Monday that Adreana Zammit, serving as a junior lawyer, had been awarded a €62,400 contract by the Transport Ministry through a direct order in October 2019, three months before receiving her warrant.

She is also the daughter of Jesmond Zammit, Ian Borg's top adviser within his ministry.

Apart from the initial contract, Zammit was awarded an additional €46,142 direct order in August 2020 for a six-month legal consultation agreement.

Between the two contracts, Zammit earned at least €108,542 in direct orders for her legal services.

A ministry spokesperson told the Times of Malta that Zammit was first given a student work placement with Transport Malta between July 2018 and September 2019.

As her placement came to a close, she was offered a contract as a junior lawyer, later extended to a contract for services as a legal consultant over a three-year period until May 2023.

Only last month, Prime Minister Robert Abela ordered Education Minister Justyne Caruana to rescind a €5,000-per-month consultancy awarded to her close friend Daniel Bogdanovich after the contract was exposed by MaltaToday.

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