Licari remains on indefinite contract as MFSA dismisses taking remedial action

The Malta Financial Services Authority will not be taking any remedial action on the conditions of its General Counsel Edwina Licari’s €120,000-a-year indefinite employment contract.

Despite the several irregularities in her recruitment process found by a recently published internal investigation, the MFSA said it will not not be taking any corrective measures.

The MFSA was forced to publish the inquiry’s report after keeping it under lock and key for three years.

The investigation into the pair’s trip to Las Vegas with and on the tab of Yorgen Fenech only saw the light of day after a recent freedom of information decision in The Shift’s favour.

It revealed. among other things, how former MFSA boss Joseph Cuschieri pulled strings and bent rules to not only recruit Licari as the MFSA’s top legal advisor but to also put her on an indefinite contract of around €120,000 a year.

The internal investigation found Cuschieri pulled out all the stops to bring his former Malta Gaming Authority colleague on board, including changing her contract from the three-year term as had been advertised to an indefinite one.

When contacted, the MFSA said it would not be taking any remedial action on the investigation’s findings that Licari’s recruitment process had been highly compromised.

Without delving into the inquiry’s conclusions, the MFSA said that Licari has been engaged on an indefinite contract and that, as such, it has no intention of changing her employment conditions.

“Dr Edwina Licari was employed on an indefinite contract in line with the contracts of other senior management officials at the MFSA at the time. The MFSA deems that no further action is required,” a spokesperson told The Shift.

The investigation concluded that Licari, who worked alongside Cuschieri at the Malta Gaming Authority, had been engaged on an indefinite contract although the vacancy had been advertised as coming with a three-year definite contract.

Despite a directive issued by the Office of the Prime Minister’s human resources authority – PAHRO, which has since been renamed to the People and Standards Division – that instructed the MFSA to recruit senior personnel only on definite contracts, Cuschieri had human resources place Licari on an indefinite contract.

The investigation also found that, in addition to personally interviewing Licari and ensuring she was the only one of three eligible applicants to have sat for an interview, Cuschieri also set the contract’s terms and conditions with higher allowances than those usually afforded to new employees.

Despite the conclusions, the board cleared Licari of any wrongdoing and instead found Cuschieri, who resigned after the report’s publication, had abused his powers.