PN says Project Green CEO should be removed due to unfair dismissal decision

The Nationalist Party has said Joseph Cuschieri should be removed as director of Project Green after he was found guilty of unlawfully dismissing an employee of the MFSA, where he was previously CEO.

Cuschieri was found guilty by the Industrial Court of committing an injustice against an employee while he was CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and of causing undue hardship to the employee and his family in an unlawful and unfair manner.

In a very strong decision, the Labour Court condemned the unlawful manner in which Cuschieri had acted towards this employee, who had been dismissed from his job for objecting to Cuschieri’s decision-making.

The Court ordered the MFSA to pay the sum of €413,688 in compensation for the employee’s lost income during the years he had to wait for this decision, as well as moral damages.

It was also decided that the employee should be reinstated to his position within the MFSA.

Since resigning from the MFSA following an unrelated incident, Cuschieri has been appointed CEO of Project Green.

“His position is no longer tenable,” said the PN’s finance and economy spokesmen, MPs Graham Bencini and Jerome Caruana Cilia.

“Minister Miriam Dalli must immediately remove Cuschieri from his position and if she does not, Prime Minister Robert Abela must remove him himself. It is unacceptable for a senior government official to remain in this position. If he is not removed, Robert Abela will perpetuate a culture of impunity in the country. He would reward those who do harm, break the law and ruin people’s lives,” the two MPs said.

“The MFSA must immediately take the necessary legal steps to ensure that the damages rightfully owed to the employee are not paid from public taxes, but by those who blatantly and brazenly committed this illegality.

“The MFSA Board of Directors, as well as the Executive Committee, cannot remain silent in the face of such injustice. Malta’s reputation in the financial sector has already been seriously damaged and it cannot afford further scandals. The primary interest of the MFSA leadership must be the public interest, not that of the Prime Minister’s friend or his chief of staff.”