It remains unclear whether Keith Schembri’s contract of service as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff deals with issues of conflict of interest.
Mr Schembri was again embroiled in controversy over his indirect relationship with American money-printing company Crane Currency, which he helped attract to Malta.
A request by this newspaper for a copy of his government contract remained unanswered a week after it was filed.
Mr Schembri was described by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as having played the role of “catalyst” during talks to get Crane Currency to invest in Malta.
The company is expected to open a manufacturing arm in Malta and employ 200 people for a total investment of $100 million.
It later transpired that Mr Schembri’s company, Kasco Technical Services, part of the Kasco Group, is the Malta agent for Komori, the company that is likely to supply Crane’s money- printing machines.
The Opposition has cried foul, accusing Mr Schembri of a blatant conflict of interest as a result of his business interest in the deal.
The PM described him as the catalyst in the investment
In the public service, conflict of interest is regulated by the Public Service Management Code. However, law expert Kevin Aquilina indicated last week that this applied to public officers and not persons of trust.
“Keith Schembri is appointed on basis of trust; it is a political appointment and so conflicts of interest are regulated according to the parameters of his contract of service, if at all,” Prof. Aquilina said.
At this stage, it remains unknown if Mr Schembri’s contract makes reference to the Public Service Management Code.
However, sources said it was highly likely that the contract, which was a standard one used throughout the years, made no reference at all to actual or potential conflicts of interest and how these should be regulated.
Under the public service code, a conflict of interest is defined as “a situation in which public officers have private or personal interests sufficient to influence or appear to influence the objective exercise of their official duties”.
The code makes it incumbent on the person to disclose in writing any potential or actual conflict to the permanent secretary, who will then determine what to do.
Mr Schembri, whose family business branches out into different sectors of the economy, had resigned from all directorships upon assuming public office after the election. However, he retained a majority shareholding.
He has insisted that he stopped getting involved in the running of his companies after the election. But Mr Schembri came under fire when Panama Papers revealed how his financial advisers opened a company in Panama on his behalf after the election with the aim of receiving funds from overseas operations in remote gambling and recycling.