Just a few days after announcing his resignation from the top post at Malta’s IT agency, Claudio Grech yesterday categorically denied that he had decided to contest the next general election.

It seems the Labour Party and the media associated with it is afraid I might be contesting the general election

General Workers’ Union daily l-orizzont yesterday carried a front-page story claiming that Mr Grech will run on the first electoral district, the same district contested by his political mentor and boss, IT Minister Austin Gatt, who said he will not be contesting another election.

Although Mr Grech put a caveat at the end of his reply to questions by The Times, saying that he was keeping all options open, he ruled out that he had been campaigning.

“My focus over the last months was to deliver the Mita projects, mainly the Corporate Data Centre,” he said.

Preparations for a successful run at the general election usually have a lead time of an entire legislature or at least a good few years given that they incorporate endless door-to-door visits.

Instead, Mr Grech insisted that he wanted to dedicate more time to his private consultancy business, which he set up two years ago.

He pointed out that the story in l-orizzont comes in the wake of a series of attacks by the Opposition, arguing Labour seemed to fear his potential candidature.

“It seems that the Labour Party and the media associated with it – judging from the treatment I have been getting over the past months – is afraid that I might be contesting the general election, which – if I knew it wasn’t intended to be a personal smear attack – actually can be taken as a compliment,” he said.

Mr Grech said the story was based on “pure speculation” and was “a continuation of consistent personal attacks...”

However, he did not completely shut the door to the possibility of seeing his as a general election candidate.

“Of course, in life you learn to keep all options open and I do not want to commit myself to what I will be doing in the future.”

Mr Grech, who previously worked in Dr Gatt’s private secretariat and later served as chief executive of SmartCity Malta, said the party had not approached him to contest the election. He is known for his close ties to the PN and in May was heavily involved with the party during the counting of votes in the divorce referendum.

On Monday, Mr Grech announced he was stepping down from his position as chairman of the Malta Information Technology Agency to be able to focus on his business.

At the end of last month, the Data Protection Commissioner cleared him of having access to people’s personal data, a claim made by Labour Party spokesman Michael Farrugia.

Mr Grech had always denied mixing his duties as chairman/director of MITA with other activities he was involved in or having access to information from all government systems, saying this was restricted to those who had a technical need for such information.

The Data Protection Commissioner ruled that Mr Grech had no access to sensitive personal data held by the national IT agency.