Pressure is being mounted on Lands Authority chairman Lino Farrugia Sacco to call a board meeting and ratify a government order to delegate more powers to the CEO, amid a growing rift among board members.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Opposition, represented at board level by MP Ryan Callus, on Tuesday objected to the government’s direction, calling it an attempt to take the authority back to the days when public land used to be abused by the government.

Through a letter, the autonomous Lands Authority’s board of governors was directed by Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius to focus on policy and delegate many of the board’s powers to CEO James Piscopo.

Quoting a decision made by the Cabinet of ministers, the parliamentary secretary said the authority was not being efficient enough in its work and needed to step up its tempo.

Times of Malta is informed that, although the government’s order was passed on to the board at the beginning of last month, it has not yet been put on its agenda for its ratification.

“The board is split over this latest government order as some members feel it is infringing on their autonomy and the way it regulates the workings of the authority,” authority officials said, on condition of anonymity.

The chairman is believed to have raised his objections with the government on the matter, however, officials said he was eventually expected to drop his resistance since he was a government appointee.

When contacted, Judge Farrugia Sacco said he did not wish to comment.

Apart from Mr Piscopo, a former Labour Party chief executive, the board is dominated by Labour-leaning appointees, including deputy chairman John Vassallo, a former Labour candidate, Odette Lewis, married to the Labour Party’s organisational secretary, William Lewis, and Alex Muscat, assistant to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Meanwhile, the PN lashed out at the government’s decision, calling it “a step backwards” to the days when public land was being abused by the government and which led to the Gaffarena and Café Premier scandals.

“The authority was set up in view of many scandals that rocked the government. It was a response to the need of more transparency and accountability.

“Now, the government wants to go back to the days when power is concentrated again in the hands of one person without checks and balances,” the party said, adding it intended to vote against the decision in an eventual board meeting.

Past spats between the board and the CEO have gone public, especially when Lands Authority officials were ordered to ignore decisions made by Mr Piscopo as they had not been discussed by the board.

Mr Piscopo was in the past accused of failing to flag his potential conflict of interest between his personal business interests and his work as a public official at the authority.

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