The mistaken call for the resignation of Broadcasting Authority board members was made by the director general for support services within the Office of the Prime Minister and not by Mario Cutajar, the designate head of the civil service, the authority clarified yesterday.

The authority confirmed that following the mistake, the OPM retracted the call as it “was not applicable” to the authority.

Last week The Times reported that the OPM had asked for the resignation of the five board members of the BA – a constitutionally appointed authority. However, the call was immediately withdrawn when the OPM realised that members of the authority should not resign following a change of government.

The authority confirmed that legal advice was sought upon receipt of the call for resignation, made through an e-mail to the chairman.

It said the “verbal information from the Office of the Prime Minister, saying that the letter circular was not applicable to the Broadcasting Authority and indicating that the e-mail had been sent by mistake, was received before the Authority had made any representations”.

Clarifications sought from the OPM on this mistake remained unanswered.

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.