The Valletta 2018 Foundation spent more than €40,000 on parties, receptions, dinners and alcohol during the first eight months of last year.
The information emerged in Parliament from Culture Minister Owen Bonnici in reply to a question by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi. The data supplied covers all the entities that fall within the minister’s remit.
According to the figures, until the end of August last year, the Valletta 2018 Foundation, tasked with overseeing the European Capital of Culture festivities, spent €40,231 on parties, receptions, dinners, the purchasing of alcohol and “other similar things”.
Throughout the previous year, the foundation spent about €5,573 on such activities, the tabled data shows.
During first eight months of the year Malta Philharmonic Orchestra also splurged on similar activities, spending some €18,689. The figure was slightly lower than that spent throughout the entire previous year, when €19,736 was forked out.
Other entities, including the Arts Council Malta, the Medicines Authority and the Public Broadcasting Services, the numbers show, did not exceed the €5,000 mark, spending various amounts that ranged from €150 to €3,300.
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