MFSA Executive Chairman Joseph Cuschieri and MFSA lawyer Edwina Licari have been suspended over a trip to Las Vegas with Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.

Cuschieri and Licari went on the Fenech-funded trip in May 2018. Keith Schembri’s former assistant, Charlene Bianco Farrugia, was also on the trip.

Cuschieri had only just resigned as CEO at the Malta Gaming Authority a month prior to moving onto the MFSA. Licari, who was an MGA official at the time, joined Cuschieri at the MFSA months later.

Cuschieri has insisted there was no conflict of interest. While sources have suggested that such trips were commonplace with gaming operators. At the time, the MGA was both the promotional and regulatory arm for the industry.

The trip also came before Fenech was outed as the owner of 17 Black or linked to the assassination.

Revelations of the trip came in the wake of the current CEO of the MGA Heathcliff resignation. Farrugia has said he is opening up his own business in the sector. However, sources have suggested that his interrogation by police over his relationship with Fenech, that included WhatsApp exchanges, could be behind him moving on.

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