Government Secrecy Surrounds Calleja Concert Funding
The Muscat administration is under scrutiny for its reluctance to disclose the ?402,500 expenditure on the popular Calleja & Friends concert, which has become a significant cultural event in Malta. This annual concert, now offered free to the public, has garnered substantial media attention and rivaled major events like the Isle of MTV.
Despite the public's interest, the Office of the Prime Minister has blocked requests for transparency regarding the budget allocation for tourism-related events. The tourism ministry has cited contractual obligations that prevent them from revealing financial details, claiming that such disclosures could jeopardize negotiations with foreign artists involved in these events.
While the concert has attracted around 25,000 attendees, the government's refusal to clarify how taxpayer money is spent raises concerns about accountability. The Malta Tourism Authority has previously indicated that unexpected costs related to this event contributed to financial losses, yet taxpayers remain uninformed about the specifics of these expenditures.
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