NGO Repubblika is calling for the resignation of Malta Financial Services Authority Joe Cuschieri after it was reported that in 2018 he had travelled to Las Vegas with Yorgen Fenech, the man accused of masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

If he does not resign, the Prime Minister should dismiss him, the NGO said in a statement.

Cuschier breached professional ethics when he accepted that Fenech pays for the trip and is then accommodated in a luxury hotel while he was running MFSA and a month after relinquishing his role as chairman and CEO of the Malta Gaming Authority.

Professional ethics demanded that such relationships are not harboured for an established period of time after the end of a job. Added to this, Cuschieri was already occupying the top seat at the MFSA.

The government has its own obligations in this matter, the NGO said. It is clear that Fenech likes to travel with public officers, it added, in reference to the trip he had taken with then assistant police commissioner Silvio Valletta.

Prime Minister Robert Abela should dismiss Cuschieri if he does not resign, Repubblika said.