No government, Opposition or NGO can ask me to resign: Edward Scicluna
Staff Report , Published: May 29, 2024, 11:05 am
Edward Scicluna on Wednesday said neither the government, nor the Opposition, or an NGO, could ask for his resignation.
The Central Bank Governor was speaking to journalists outside court before facing criminal charges over the Vitals hospitals deal.
His position at the Central Bank has been questioned ever since a magisterial inquiry into the hospitals deal was concluded and it emerged he was among those facing charges in connection with the scandal.
Robert Abela has since insisted he will not sack Scicluna, who is also a board member of the Malta Financial Services Authority.
Together with former health minister Chris Fearne, Sciclina is among 14 officials facing charges in court on Wednesday. On Tuesday, another 14 individuals and nine companies - including former PM Joseph Muscat - were charged during a historic court hearing.
In his first comments since the conclusion of the inquiry, he pinned responsibility for his future as Central Bank Governor on the European Central Bank and its statutes.
"There is a big difference between a governor and a minister. A minister's position is the prerogative of the prime minister, while the role of governor is governed by the EU treaty and European Central Bank statutes," Scicluna said.
"There are strict conditions so that there is no interference from the government, the Opposition or NGOs about the resignation."
His tenure was at the discretion of the council of governors of the European Central Bank and could be challenged in front of the European Court of Justice, he added, skirting questions on whether he personally thought he should resign.
As Malta's Central Bank governor, Scicluna sits on the ECB Board of Governors. He is not the only member of that prestigious body to be in legal trouble: his Slovakian counterpart, Peter Kazimir, is currently fighting corruption charges.
His ECB boss, Christine Lagarde, is similarly compromised. Lagarde was convicted of negligence in the misuse of public funds during her time as minister in her native France.
Scicluna served as Malta’s Finance Minister between 2013 and 2020, when he resigned as a minister and MP to assume the role of Central Bank governor.
The €4 billion, 30-year deal to privatise three state hospitals that has landed his former boss Joseph Muscat and colleagues Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri in court was signed during his time in government.
A magisterial inquiry into the deal noted that he was generally kept in the dark about the concession and had little communication with Mizzi, the minister primarily responsible for the deal.
It appears Scicluna was also not informed that his top civil servant, Alfred Camilleri, sat on the board of the entity tasked with awarding the “fraudulent” deal to Vitals, Projects Malta.
The atmosphere outside the Valletta law courts on Wednesday morning was a far cry from the previous day’s mayhem.
While hundreds of people showed up to voice their support for Muscat [who faces the graver charges of bribery and corruption], few, if any Labour supporters could be seen in the square on Wednesday.
Instead, Great Siege Square appeared to be back to its daily routine, with henna tattoo and costume jewellery vendors at their stalls and a tourist train that tours Valletta making its way past the law courts.