Malta Enterprise Official Sacked After Four Resignations, Silvio Schembri Confirms
Malta Enterprise official Kevin Camilleri has been terminated from his role as the head of the entity’s micro-enterprise unit, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri told parliament earlier today.
Camilleri had assessed the application for the project of a furniture factory at a site at Corradino where the untimely death of Jean Paul Sofia occurred.
Schembri stated that Camilleri’s position was no longer “tenable” following the report’s findings by the board that said he had completely “failed in his responsibilities” by pushing the application forward when he should have done the complete opposite.
Camilleri had assessed the developers’ application and moved it forward, presenting the proposal to Malta Enterprise’s investment committee.
The inquiry pointed out that it was clear that Camilleri should have advised against the project’s approval, saying “You don’t have to be a stellar expert to understand that the furniture manufacturing sector has been in crisis for years through globalisation. Small carpenters unfortunately shut down and the big ones transformed their business to importing furniture instead of manufacturing it.”
Schembri further confirmed that he accepted the resignations of board and investment committee members Victor Carachi and Paul Abela.
Carachi stepped down despite not being present for the fateful meeting, saying his decision was a matter of ethics.
Moreover, Schembri said the inquiry shows that operations of a number of public entities “leave a lot to be desired” yet pointing out that it concluded that “there was no relation between the allocation of land and the tragedy”.
He further announced that the investment committee will be abolished until an audit into the entity is finalised.
Regarding INDIS, Schembri stated that he implemented a number of changes since assuming the entity in 2020 and assured that a lot of its staff has changed since the Corradino construction site was allocated in 2019.
What do you make of Schembri’s decision?
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