Joseph Grech: Summoned ferry to pick him up.

A former Gozo Channel chairman forced to resign after summoning a ferry to return to port to pick him up has been engaged as the minister’s consultant on the company.

Joseph Grech is conducting regular meetings with Gozo Channel personnel and is practically managing the day-to-day business of the firm, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.

When contacted, Gozo Channel chairman Joe Cordina confirmed that Dr Grech has attended meetings but declined to comment on whether he is effectively in charge at the company on behalf of Gozo Minister Anton Refalo.

“I don’t know what his role is. All I know is that Dr Grech is not a consultant of Gozo Channel,” said Mr Cordina, a former Labour Party official who was appointed Gozo Channel chairman after the March election.

I think you should ask the minister about Joseph Grech’s role

When asked whether Dr Grech is meeting employees, Mr Cordina said: “I think you should ask the minister about Dr Grech’s role, not me.”

Questions sent to the Gozo Ministry remained unanswered at the time of going to print. Dr Grech failed to return calls made by this newspaper.

A Gozitan lawyer, he was appointed by the Nationalist administration as chairman of Gozo Channel in 2011. But he was forced to resign following an incident in which he summoned a ferry departing Mġarr harbour to return and pick him up after he arrived late.

After the incident was revealed by Times of Malta, Dr Grech had submitted his resignation following government pressure.

Dr Grech was in the news again last year when he tried to stop Gozo Channel from issuing a call for the engagement of a CEO after claiming that he was “the most qualified person for the job”.

In a judicial protest, he accused former minister Tonio Fenech – then responsible for Gozo Channel – of “victimisation” and “political expediency”.

The former government had rejected Dr Grech’s allegations and dismissed his application due to “political baggage” and lack of political trust.

Mr Fenech had stated that Dr Grech was a political appointee in a position of trust and could not expect the company to reward him with the company’s top executive post of CEO after what he had done. He said Dr Grech’s actions had “embarrassed the company and the Government”.