The investigation into allegations made against Rita Schembri, who heads the Government’s Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate, is still ongoing.

This is being given priority by the National Audit Office

Auditor-General Anthony Mifsud was in November asked to look into claims made by the media that Ms Schembri used her government office to conduct private business, which she has always denied.

A civil service review board, which recommended the investigation be carried out by the Auditor-General himself, had also expressed the desire that it should be concluded within three weeks. The investigation has now entered its fifth week.

“Although this investigation is being given priority by the National Audit Office, at this stage it would be inopportune to establish a date when the report will be concluded,” a spokesman for the NAO said.

Ms Schembri had herself asked to be investigated and has gone on leave, pending the conclusion of the investigation, to focus on her defence.

She is accused of having used her offices to conduct private business and also of failing to declare a potential financial interest.

Businessman Philip Rizzo was reported by Malta Today saying that he had a long string of detailed e-mails proving that she was using her Valletta civil service office to broker a deal to buy out an existing Casino di Venezia partner.

Ms Schembri is also a member of the supervisory committee of the EU anti-fraud agency, Olaf, which conducted the investigation that led to John Dalli’s resignation as European Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner.

Ms Schembri came under the spotlight after Mr Dalli questioned her role in the Olaf investigation – she served as a coordinator for the agency for the Maltese part of the probe – once she also sat on the supervisory committee.

Following the publication of the Olaf report, she faced allegations of impropriety from both Mr Rizzo and, separately, Joseph Borg, of Swieqi, who was charged with attempting to blackmail the Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate head through an e-mail.

In that e-mail, Mr Borg told Ms Schembri that he would report her to Olaf if she did not pay money she owed to two Nigerians for breaching a lease agreement.

Ms Schembri defended herself against the allegations levelled at her by Mr Rizzo by referring to a letter from Colin Perkins, owner of a gambling company who allegedly engaged Mr Rizzo as a consultant in a bid for the casino. The letter described her as a person of absolute probity, according to sources.

She told the board that Mr Perkins, a friend of hers and her husband, had simply asked her to assess whether Mr Rizzo was a reliable person. She insisted she was not acting as a consultant.

She said that, at the time, she had been carrying out a review of Inspire, the disability NGO with which Mr Rizzo is involved, and she thought of asking him over to her office at Valletta Buildings in South Street, the sources said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.