Jonathan Cardona has been appointed chief executive officer of Enemalta plc with effect from last Monday.

He succeeds Jason Vella who is assisting in this transition. 

Cardona previously served as the head of the government agency responsible for citizenship-related matters, the Community Malta Agency. The agency succeeded the Individual Investor Programme Agency. 

In initial comments following his appointment, Cardona said he appreciated the trust being shown in him and looked forward to “continue building on the good work carried out throughout the years”, further strengthening the company. 

The company also appointed Jonathan Scerri chairperson of the board of directors, replacing Kevin Chircop. 

Scerri served as an executive director at Enemalta between 2014 and 2017, following a short stint at CEO of WasteServ. An electrical engineer by profession, he has also served as deputy chairperson of the Engineering Profession Board. 

The company thanked Vella and Chircop for their service and wished Cardona and Scerri success in their new roles.

Times of Malta had exclusively revealed last week that a major shake-up at Enemalta was on the cards, reporting that Cardona and Chircop were being lined up for the two top Enemalta jobs. 

Following that news, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli had acknowledged changes within Enemalta's top management but insisted that the switches were "absolutely unrelated" to negative headlines concerning Enemalta.  

The energy company was in the spotlight earlier this year after widespread power cuts left much of Malta in the dark at the height of summer. 

Enemalta is also at the heart of a police investigation into a scandal concerning investment it made in Montenegro.

The company paid €10.3 million for shares in a wind farm venture in the country that was worth just a third of that price two weeks earlier. Much of that profit ended up in a company owned by Yorgen Fenech. 

At the time, the minister responsible for Enemalta was Konrad Mizzi. Times of Malta revealed last week that Fenech had access to confidential documents related to three major projects that Mizzi was spearheading as minister.

Mizzi was questioned by police last year over his Whatsapp exchanges with Fenech in 2019.

Sources say Mizzi urged Fenech to “delete Whatsapp” after Fenech lost his phone during a January 2019 trip to Miami.