Godwin Sant, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit who was dismissed after it was alleged that he accepted gifts from oil giant Trafigura at rogue oil trader George Farrugia’s request, was handpicked by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi for the job. As the CEO of the recently formed unit, Godwin Sant was a member of Konrad Mizzi’s private secretariat.

The Sustainable Energy and Water Conservation Unit, which falls under the direct responsibility of the Health and Energy Ministry, was set up by Legal Notice 50 of 2014. It states that the unit is to be led by a Chief Executive Officer who “shall be appointed by the Minister.”

Before his most recent appointment, Engineer Godwin Sant served as Director for Energy Regulation and later as Chief Officer Energy Policy at the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) under the previous administration. However, Mr Sant, who is also a visiting lecturer at the university, was not part of a ministerial secretariat when he occupied these posts. Persons who are employed as members of a private secretariat usually enjoy a high degree of trust by the respective minister.

On Sunday, the government announced that it had suspended Mr Sant with immediate effect pending investigation. In fact, the Energy Ministry website has since delisted the engineer from the administration section of its website. The website says that the post is “temporarily vacant.”

Mr Sant was suspended after Malta Today reported that, in April 2009, Mr Farrugia (photo) made arrangements for Mr Sant to receive football tickets in the UK from Trafigura as a gift. The newspaper said Mr Sant kept a very close relationship with Mr Farrugia, even furnishing him with details of other developments related to what was taking place under the energy portfolio at the MRA.

The government’s (temporary) suspension of Mr Sant was inarguably the appropriate step to take. However, who is shouldering the political responsibility of his recent appointment to head the unit within the Ministry? Did the Minister conduct a thorough due diligence when appointing civil servants to high ranking posts which carry political responsibility and exposure to sensitive data?

More importantly, it raises the question of whether Konrad Mizzi should shoulder political responsibility if Mr Sant is found to be guilty of the allegations being made against him.