Wenzu Mintoff 'in breach of ethics'

Malta Enterprise said yesterday it viewed the editorship of a weekly political newspaper by its legal adviser Wenzu Mintoff as a clear conflict of interest and a breach of its code of ethics.

In a counter protest to a protest filed by Dr Mintoff, the corporation said his editorship of Labour's newspaper KullĦadd gave the unequivocal perception to those who came in contact with Malta Enterprise that there was the possibility that information about them would find itself on the newspaper.

Moreover, it said, Dr Mintoff had to dedicate a substantial amount of time to the paper's production and his role as editor reduced the impartiality that each public servant needed to have.

Malta Enterprise also said that Dr Mintoff had not asked for permission before taking up the editorship.

The corporation pointed out that it had never objected to Dr Mintoff's political involvement, whether in the Labour Party or Alternattiva Demokratika.

It said none of the directors, employees and contractors of the corporation, who might be politically active, were editors of a newspaper and did not have the same difficulties faced by Dr Mintoff.

On Tuesday, Dr Mintoff filed a protest accusing the corporation of political discrimination against him by asking him to choose between his job and his role as editor. He accused the enterprise of exercising double standards because other employees, with obvious affiliations to the Nationalist Party, were not told anything of the sort.

Dr Mintoff has served at the corporation for the past 23 years.

Last Sunday's KullĦadd was not edited by Dr Mintoff but by Toni Abela, who filed Dr Mintoff's protest, as acting editor.