Energy Minister Miriam Dalli has shot down reports that Enemalta CEO Jonathan Cardona has been removed from his post.

“Jonathan Cardona is still reporting for work at Enemalta every day and he has not been removed as CEO of Enemalta,” Dalli told reporters on Wednesday.

“He is part of the focus we have right now to strengthen investment in energy in our country, particularly in the distribution system,” she said.

Cardona has been in charge of Enemalta for less than two years, having been made CEO in October 2021. He took over that job from Jason Vella, who was moved on following a series of summertime power cuts.

Rumours that Cardona was being axed for similar reasons were sparked by a report published by The Shift this week, which claimed that he had been fired in the wake of a series of power outages that left people’s homes in the dark at the height of a summer heat wave.

According to the report, Cardona was to be moved to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.

The OHSA’s current CEO, Mark Gauci, is due to retire imminently.

Dalli, however, insisted Cardona is staying put.

A spokesperson for the Public Works Ministry, which is responsible for the OHSA, also “categorically denied” that Cardona had been identified as Gauci’s replacement at that authority.

The Nationalist Party had on Tuesday called on the government to confirm or deny reports of Cardona’s departure from Enemalta and questioned what qualifications he possesses to lead the OHSA, if reports of his transfer there were in fact true.

In response, Dalli said it appeared the party had dropped a series of proposals it made to reform the energy sector in late July, as power cuts hit Malta. Among those proposals was a call to consider liberalising energy distribution markets.