The Nationalist Party on Thursday said that Prime Minister Robert Abela must use his authority as Prime Minister to convince the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta Edward Scicluna to resign from that role, as well as all the other roles he occupies.
PN MPs Graham Bencini and Jerome Caruana Cilia addressed a press conference where they said that Abela must “officially” request Scicluna to resign from his post as CBM Governor, as well as remove him personally and immediately from all the other roles Scicluna holds.
On Wednesday, a court found enough prima facie evidence for Scicluna, and others to be indicted in the hospitals case after being charged in connection to it.
Scicluna has remained defiant in the face of calls for his resignation, despite the court decree, saying that the EU Treaty is protecting him as a Eurosystem Governor from the pressures he has been facing, namely by the PN, as well as Abela who indicated that Scicluna would arrive to the right decision.
Aside from CBM Governor, the PN said that Scicluna is also on the Board of Governors of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), a member of the European Central Bank for Malta, the Governor for Malta at the International Monetary Fund, a member of the European Bank and the bank for investment towards reconstruction and development, part of an infrastructural Asiatic movement, as well as substitute Governor of Malta for the World Bank.
“These roles were given to him by a Labour government, by Robert Abela,” Bencini said.
He said that Scicluna is right in saying that nobody can remove him as Central Bank Governor, but the PN is waiting for Abela to use his authority as PM to convince Scicluna to resign from all his roles immediately, for the best interests of the country, as he is causing great damage to the country’s reputation on an international scale.
“Abela can, and has the power to immediately remove him from the MFSA,” Bencini said, quoting Article 6 of the Malta Financial Services Act, which says that the PM has the power to remove any member on the MFSA Board.
The PN said that if Abela fails to do this, he would be, once again, choosing to defend the clique close to Labour, instead of the country’s name and reputation.
It appealed to Abela to officially ask for Scicluna’s resignation, as “Scicluna does not have the decency to, and has no respect to the financial services sector, and the people working in it.”
Bencini said that Scicluna was only interested in the salary he wants to keep receiving as a Governor.
Caruana Cilia quoted an article written by Scicluna himself on ethics as former Finance Minister. He said that the PN agrees with and insists that Scicluna listens to his own words and resign immediately.
He said that the country is suffering from irreparable damage to its reputation as Scicluna wants to hold on to power, adding that the financial services sector had worked for months and years tirelessly to remove the country from the grey list.
Caruana Cilia insisted that the PM must remove him from Scicluna’s MFSA role. “Edward Scicluna must leave immediately, today before tomorrow,” he said.