Gordon Cordina resigned from the post of director-general of the National Statistics Office because he felt he could not continue to fulfil his duties in a serene way following events that went beyond “a mature discussion of a technical nature.”

The Malta Statistics Authority yesterday published the resignation letter sent in by Dr Cordina, dated last Friday, following several requests from the media and after it obtained Dr Cordina’s permission.

Dr Cordina resigned in the wake of political controversy following revisions made to statistics concerning the Gross Domestic Product, as published in an NSO news release on 7 December. This led the Malta Labour Party to publish a technical report on the changes.

Since his resignation, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has criticised the MLP campaign to attack people personally and tarnish their reputation, while Labour leader Alfred Sant called upon the PM to give the reasons behind Dr Cordina’s decision.

In his letter, addressed to Malta Statistics Authority chairman Reno Camilleri, Dr Cordina said that he decided to resign “because the events of the past weeks, that went beyond a mature discussion of a technical nature, showed that I can no longer fulfil my duties in this position with the necessary serenity.”

Dr Cordina said that his area of expertise was “exclusively academic and technical.”

He wrote that he always carried out his duties “with a conscience and professional integrity as has always happened since the NSO was established. The Malta Statistics Authority recognised this several times.”

After thanking the authority and his colleagues at the NSO, Dr Cordina requested that his resignation is accepted “as definitive and with immediate effect.”