Updated 12.29pm

The "zero tolerance" decision to terminate Adrian Hillman's consultancy contracts with the Malta Gaming Authority could be the first of many such moves, with Prime Minister Robert Abela pledging to take "all necessary decisions" to address governance issues. 

Fielding questions from journalists on Friday, hours after new Parliamentary Secretary Clayton Bartolo announced Mr Hillman's contracts had been terminated, Dr Abela told Times of Malta he had no qualms to take decisions.

"I won't call this a general clean-up but there were changes that were needed and we are making those changes without any drastic changes to the system.

"I won't comment on specific individuals but on the system in general. Wherever we identify that there is or there were shortcomings, I will be the first to push for these to be addressed," he said when asked whether there will be similar action against other individuals.

He did not indicate what the action might be or who could be involved. 

In a tweet late on Thursday, Mr Bartolo said that Mr Hillman had been taking payments intended for a private company through consultancies he held with the gaming authority.

Mr Hillman was engaged by the MGA for "strategic communication services, reputation management and public relations," a 2019 notice in the Government Gazette had revealed.

At the time, the MGA fell under the remit of Silvio Schembri, who at the time was parliamentary secretary for Financial Services and Digital Economy. Mr Schembri is now Economy Minister. 

On Friday, Dr Abela said he had not discussed the matter with Mr Schembri but had instead spoken to the new parliamentary secretary responsible, Mr Bartolo. 

Hillman's AUM role

Mr Hillman was formerly the managing director of Allied Newspapers, which publishes Times of Malta.

He had resigned that post soon after his name surfaced in the Panama Papers leaks.

Documents showed that Mr Hillman owned secret companies in the British Virgin Islands, similar to the ones set up in Panama by Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna for Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. Slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had revealed a series of transactions for some €650,000 between Mr Hillman and the former Prime Minister's chief of staff.

Despite this, he was put on the state payroll only days after the 2017 election and was then also appointed to the Board of Trustees of the American University of Malta as the government's representative.

The Prime Minister was asked whether Mr Hillman's role as government representative on the AUM Board of Trustees was now also in question.

Dr Abela again reiterated that the "necessary decisions" will be taken. Pressed to say whether this meant Mr Hillman would no longer serve as the government representative, the prime minister did not say. 

"That is something we still have to decide on," he said. 

An Education Ministry spokesman later told Times of Malta that Mr Hillman would no longer serve in his government-nominated AUM role. 

“The government confirms that Mr Adrian Hillman will no longer be the government nominee on AUM," the spokesman said.