The board which will decide the future of Malta’s financial regulator is fully independent, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said amid concerns of possible ethical misconduct by the MFSA chief executive. 

Taking reporters questions on Monday, Scicluna would not weigh in personally over whether Malta Financial Services Authority CEO Joe Cuschieri had crossed any lines when he accepted a travel invitation from alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder conspirator Yorgen Fenech.  

Times of Malta last week broke the news that Cuschieri had accepted a travel invitation to Las Vegas and stayed in a world-famous casino hotel back in 2018, along with the MFSA’s chief legal advisor Edwina Licari.

Cuschieri has insisted that the trip had come after he left the Malta Gaming Authority and so there was no conflict in accepting a travel invitation from the casino operator. 

Fenech was later accused of conspiring to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car bomb attack in October 2017.

Asked whether he thought this was acceptable behaviour, Scicluna said it was “not a matter of what I do and do not find acceptable”. He said the MFSA had a board which was independent and would be assessing whether the two officials had broken the code of conduct.  

Licari, who also went on the trip, was the Malta Gaming Authority's general counsel at the time. 

Cuschieri and Licari, the MFSA's general council, both suspended themselves from their positions last week amid concerns of possible ethical misconduct.

Scicluna, however, did give a brief insight into his thoughts on the trip. He told Times of Malta that when it came to Licari’s post on the board of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, he had called her the day the news of the holiday broke, and asked her to consider he position. The following morning, she had resigned, he said.  

Earlier during the press conference, Scicluna gave an overview of the Budget measures announced last month.  

The Finance Ministry, he said, is responsible for implementing some 16 Budget measures.  

'Borrowing to help citizens'

The decision to enter into a deficit, Scicluna said, is an essential responsibility shouldered by his ministry. 

“Opting for a deficit of 5%, means the country is opting to borrow because there is a need, a real need to help citizens,” he said.  

Pensions, tax refunds, measures to help businesses, and families, were also the responsibility of his ministry, Scicluna said, as were tax deferrals, and a state loan guarantee. 

Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said it had been an extraordinary Budget, especially given the context in which it was drafted.  

Schembri recalled when, at the start of the pandemic, Prime Minister Robert Abela had presented a report drafted by economists and other experts which said that if nothing was done to fight the economic impact of COVID-19, the government risked 50,000 unemployed in the first year. 

Schembri said thousands of businesses would have gone under, and thousands of families would today be struggling to make ends meet.  

“We could not accept that situation - which is why the government intervened,” Schembri said. 

“It was not an easy time. It was a time of many meetings - long meetings, with different stakeholders, to try and map out a sustainable plan,” he said.  

The government will now be rolling out a number of re-training programmes and funds. These will be announced over the coming weeks. The projects include help for companies to move towards a digital platform, among others, Schembri said. 

The greening of industrial spaces, and urban areas, is also high on the priority list, the minister said. 

In the coming days, the government will be announcing plans to create several open spaces, especially in localities that were surrounded by industrial estates and other critical state infrastructure.