Johann Buttigieg told The Malta Independent that he officially found out about his appointment as the CEO of the Planning Authority through the media.

He said this after being asked when he expects to be officially appointed.

It was reported in the media on Tuesday that Buttigieg is set to return to the post of CEO at the Planning Authority. He had originally been appointed as the authority's chief executive in 2013, and later his designation was changed to CEO. In 2019 he had stepped down from the role and was appointed CEO of the Tourism Authority, leaving that role three years later.

Asked what his first order of business would be, Buttigieg replied that he is awaiting the finalisation of his appointment before speaking on such plans.

Buttigieg said that he believes the government has faith in his capabilities, and he added that he will do his best to use those capabilities for the good of the general public.

He was asked for his response regarding concerns that he is close with developers, to which he replied that he is not close to developers.

"I am a planning consultant," he said. "It is not a matter of being close or not being close. You are appointed to carry out work, in the same way that lawyers and architects do their professional jobs, I do my professional work as a planner."

When he was CEO of the Planning Authority in the past, the authority was heavily criticised over the applications that were being granted.

In 2018 Buttigieg was found to have authorised the use of over €8,000 to be paid for a board member of the PA to fly to and from Malta by private jet on the eve of a board meeting regarding the db Group's Pembroke city centre project.

Buttigieg was also the subject of controversy over Whatsapp chats with Yorgen Fenech in 2019. Fenech had proposed a joint property deal to Buttigieg. The news about the chats broke in 2021.

Moviment Graffiti had, after that news broke, called for an independent investigation into Buttigieg's conduct during his time with the PA.  The NGO had said that the PA had long been granting construction magnates unbridled power through development projects, which it remarked often ran contrary to the needs of everyday citizens. The NGO had said that the close relationships between the top management of the PA and the business as well as political classes were creating a climate of impunity which allowed construction magnates to run rampant.

Buttigieg had also handed down a consultancy contract when he was at the Malta Tourism Authority to Konrad Mizzi when the latter stepped down as tourism minister at height of the political crisis in 2019. That contract was quickly scrapped.

Buttigieg's original tenure at the PA oversaw major reforms in the planning sector, which included the split of MEPA into the Planning Authority and the Environment and Resources Authority.