Updated 1pm with minister's comment

The Home Affairs Ministry’s top civil servant has been moved out of the role, with the transfer prompting changes in the job descriptions of two other permanent secretaries.

Emanuel Psaila, who until Thursday served as permanent secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, has been transferred to the top role at the Social Accommodation Ministry led by Roderick Galdes.

His role at the Home Affairs Ministry will be temporarily fulfilled by Joyce Dimech, the permanent secretary at the Culture Ministry led by Owen Bonnici.

Psaila served as director of the Civil Protection Department between 2017 and 2022, then moved to the top post within the Home Affairs Ministry following the 2022 general election.

The ministry is among the largest within the government, encompassing entities such as the police, army, CPD and prisons and tasked with coordinating issues such as national security and migration.

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said on Friday that the decision to transfer Psaila was made by the principal permanent secretary, Tony Sultana, and that he learnt of it on Thursday.   

“Yesterday I was informed that his service will be needed in another ministry,” he said.  

Sources within government said that the decision to transfer Psaila was performance-based and described it as a "demotion". 

“Psaila was an exemplary CPD director, but the Home Affairs Ministry is responsible for coordinating some extremely technical discussions. It’s a massive ministry and not for everyone,” the sources said.    

They downplayed rumours of a reputed personality clash between Psaila and Camilleri. 

Musu freed of Social Accommodation role

Psaila’s new role at the more contained Social Accommodation Ministry has also had a knock-on effect on the job description of permanent secretary Mark Musu.

Musu spent the past three years as permanent secretary of two separate ministries – Social Policy and Social Accommodation.

With Psaila taking over the latter role, he will now work solely as permanent secretary for the Social Policy ministry, with a remit to focus more intensely on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD).

Government sources insisted that the change was not a demotion for Musu, whose work has come under scrutiny in recent weeks following Times of Malta revelations of a widespread and years-long racket to defraud the state of severe disability benefits.

Times of Malta revealed that hundreds of people are being investigated for having obtained monthly benefit cheques by falsely claiming to be severely epileptic, using forged documents they say they obtained through government contacts. Family doctor and former Labour MP Silvio Grixti is alleged to have played a key role in the racket.

Aside from a police investigation, the benefit scheme is currently being assessed by a three-person board of inquiry appointed by Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon and the ministry’s permanent secretary, Musu.