The boards of directors of the Malta Gaming Authority and the Malta Communications Authority were appointed this week after being vacant for several months, however the PN has slammed government saying that the appointment of two chairpersons was done illegally.

The Malta Government Gazette announced on Tuesday that the Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services Silvio Schembri, had appointed both boards retroactively “with effect from 1 October, 2019”. The respective CEOs of the two organisations were installed as acting chairmen: Heathcliff Farrugia at the MGA and Jesmond Bugeja at the MCA.

The PN said that a Permanent Committee on Public Appointments was set up in Parliament through a law, and it is expressly indicates that these two chairpersons can only be appointed after appearing before the committee, and if they are approved can be given their appointment, the PN said..

"This is a political action that is both arrogant and illegal, that was done in a panic to try and solve the problem that has been present since October. The PN said that this shows that the government does not want to observe the law that it wrote itself.

In light of this, the PN said, regardless of the merits or problems with these candidates, the PN declared that it will be voting against their appointment and will not recognise in any way any act or action that breaks the law.

The Malta Council for Science and Technology remains without a board of directors, while still retaining Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando as executive chairman.

The Malta Independent had highlighted the vacancies in the above entities several times in the past months.