The Authority for the Responsible use of Cannabis (ARUC) irresponsibly failed to submit a single financial report since its inception . The Authority was set up in 2021 and became commercially operational in 2023. It is legally obliged to prepare an annual report covering both its financial and operational activities within three months of the end of each financial year. At least that's what Chapter 628 of the Laws of Malta state. Yet year after year ARUC simply flouted the law. Instead of calling for accountability and compliance, Prime Minister Robert Abela came out defending ARUC. That's probably because Abela had a hand in appointing Joey Reno Vella, an inexperienced lawyer in his twenties, ARUC boss. That lawyer just happened to be the assistant of Robert Abela's brother-in-law, lawyer Albert Zerafa.
Joey Reno Vella has been at the helm of ARUC for two years. Yet he hasn't produced a single annual report as he's legally bound to. Vella succeeded another failure at ARUC - Leonid McKay, Labour's current CEO. McKay spent a year heading ARUC and also failed to submit an annual report. McKay was paid €90,000 euro annually at ARUC, yet he failed to do his duty. Instead he moved into the post of Chief Executive of the Labour Party. How much he's paid by Labour for his role nobody knows. What we do know is that his income is boosted by his appointment as board Director at JobsPlus. JobsPlus' Board of Directors is one of the largest boards of any government agency in the whole of Europe with a grand total of 17 directors.
ARUC is responsible for huge sums of money. It's meant to collect the annual licence fees of cannabis associations. Associations with 50 members pay €1,000 euro per year each but those with more members pay up to €26,000 per year. Between January 2024 and December 2025 a tonne of cannabis was distributed from 21,000 cannabis plants. Robert Abela claimed in parliament that another 5.7 tonnes of cannabis was "destroyed" as it was not suitable for use. That's terribly fishy. We're meant to believe that Malta produced 6.7 tonnes of cannabis of which only 1 tonne was suitable for use. We're also expected to believe that a whopping 5.7 tonnes of cannabis was simply "destroyed".
5.7 tonnes of cannabis is no joke. That amount of drugs has a street value of between 45 million and 85 million euro. Yet ARUC simply failed to submit a single financial report since it was established.
ARUC is meant to collect five per cent of the total annual revenue of all registered cannabis associations towards "harm reduction efforts". 10 per cent of the associations' net revenue is meant to go towards community projects. It's ARUC's job to collect and distribute that money. Yet for three whole years the public was kept in the dark. We don't know how much money ARUC collected in fees and whether ARUC actually distributed any money for harm reduction or community projects.
Despite ARUC's failure to submit any financial report the Minister responsible, Byron Camilleri, doesn't seem to be too bothered. He hasn't kicked up a fuss over ARUC's breach of its statutory duty. To make matters worse Prime Minister Robert Abela is now sticking his neck out for ARUC and its boss, Joey Reno Vella.
Chapter 628 of the Laws of Malta requires ARUC to prepare annual accounts and table them in Parliament. ARUC is a statutory authority accountable to Parliament and Parliament has every right, indeed a duty, to summon Joey Reno Vella to explain his dereliction of duty. Byron Camilleri should be questioned over his own failure to ensure ARUC was meeting its legal obligations. The Opposition should bring this up before the Public Accounts Committee.
ARUC didn't just fail to submit its annual report on time - it just didn't submit any reports at all, for three consecutive years. That persistent and abysmal failure should trigger an investigation by the National Audit Office. ARUC's persistent non-compliance with the law could potentially be challenged in court through a judicial review. Anybody with legal standing could bring procedures.
ARUC's failure to submit its financial report is more than just suspicious. Simply missing a report does not constitute criminal liability but the repeated failure to publish any report for years on end raises serious concerns. What is ARUC trying to hide? Where are the funds of the Authority going? How much money has the Authority made? And why is the Prime Minister covering up for ARUC?
The young lawyer who Robert Abela put in charge of ARUC only graduated in 2019. His only work experience involved being the assistant of Robert Abela's brother-in-law.
Joey Reno Vella had barely passed his final exams when Owen Bonnici made him board secretary of ARUC in 2021 when the authority was first set up. Minister Bonnici not only engaged Vella, who hails from Bonnici's electoral district, as a person of trust but he also put him on Jobsplus' Board of Directors. Vella was also awarded several contracts from various government entities including ARMS Ltd and the Housing Authority. Minister Byron Camilleri also put him on the Immigration Appeals Board. Maybe that's why Joey Reno Vella has messed up so badly at ARUC. He's just got too much on his plate.
But for Robert Abela it doesn't matter. Joey Reno Vella is special. Instead of denouncing him for his breach of duty, the Prime Minister is protecting him. ARUC's financial accounts, Abela told Parliament, are "in the final stages of being concluded and will be presented in the coming weeks". Abela concealed the rest of the information about ARUC. The nation has every right to know how much taxpayers' money is flowing to ARUC, how much Joey Reno Vella is being paid for his incompetence, how much money ARUC has spent on its ridiculous and useless advertising campaign and why no action has been taken against ARUC's leadership.