A long-standing client is appointed to public office

Antoine Vella has been a client of the firm since 2017 — personal tax returns, and the accounts of the management consultancy he has run on his own account for twenty years. A media-monitoring alert this morning reports that he has been appointed to the board of a State-owned company. He has not mentioned it.

• Client: Antoine Vella, Maltese, resident in Malta. Nine years with the firm, no difficulties in that time.
• The appointment: named in the Government Gazette last month as a non-executive director of Kastell Heritage Ltd, a State-owned company operating public heritage sites
• The role: one of seven non-executive directors, supervisory only under a published governance framework. No executive responsibility, no individual signing authority, no part in tenders or grants.
• Remuneration: €9,600 a year, published in the company’s annual report. He is required to file a declaration of interests with the company.
• His wealth: built from the consultancy over twenty years. The firm holds eight years of tax returns and the practice accounts.
• Family: his wife, Claudia Vella, is a client of the firm in her own right and runs a small language school. Their son Marc, 29, lives in Munich and has no dealings with the firm.
• A new instruction: he has asked the firm to incorporate a company through which he will continue consulting. The work is unrelated to the appointment.
• Screening: no sanctions, PEP or adverse media results at the annual review four months ago
• Banking: two Maltese accounts, unchanged for years
• Rating at the last review: low