The Malta Gaming Authority has been operating without a board of governors for the past four months, despite mounting pressure on the online industry.
Times of Malta is informed that the MGA’s board of governors has not met for months as the government has not renewed its term, which ended last June.
A spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister confirmed that, currently, the Malta Gaming Authority does not have a board of governors.
Marlene Seychell, a successful fashion retailer who was appointed at the helm of the board last year, confirmed “her term expired” but did not wish to comment further.
Sources said relations between the board and the CEO, Heathcliff Farrugia, turned sour at the beginning of this year, resulting in a power struggle.
The Office of the Prime Minister intervened to try to heal the divisions between the two sides.
Since no headway was made, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services and Digital Economy Silvio Schembri decided to start looking for a new chairperson and new governors.
Asked repeatedly over the last weeks to state the names of members of the MGA’s board, the parliamentary secretary failed to reply.
UK regulator slams Malta over compliance
The OPM said announcements about the board will be made in the coming days to reflect the recent restructuring and “will continue to reinforce the sterling work performed by the authority”.
Mr Farrugia did not reply when asked to confirm that the disagreements with members of the outgoing board had escalated to various arguments.
He also did not reply when asked whether he had offered to resign during the ensuing feud.
Sources said the CEO is currently introducing various reforms and recruiting senior officials, including chief officers, without the approval of a board.
According to the law, it is the board’s remit to approve such restructuring and recruitment.
Sources said relations between the board and the CEO turned sour
Apart from Ms Seychell, the MGA’s board consisted of deputy chairman Chris Cilia and had Ruth Trapani Galea Feriol, Juliana Scerri Ferrante and Roberto Francalanza as members.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the UK’s Gambling Commission, Neil McArthur, slammed Malta’s regulatory compliance, revealing that Maltese based companies were found to be the most frequent compliance offenders.
In 2018, the commission undertook an investigation of compliance standards at 128 online casino operators that offer gambling in the United Kingdom and ordered many of them to submit action plans to raise their standards.
“It’s disappointing to note that currently 24 of the 45 operators who had to submit action plans are based in Malta,” he told an ARQ compliance conference in Malta last week.
“The same is true for five of the seven operators who had to pay penalties and three of those which surrendered licences,” he said.
The gaming industry accounts for over 10 per cent of Malta’s economy.