The probe into the Government’s internal audit agency head, Rita Schembri, is in the final stages and should be made public shortly.
Auditor General Anthony Mifsud was asked to look into claims made in November that Ms Schembri used her government office to conduct private business, which she has always denied.
She is also accused of failing to declare a potential financial interest.
A civil service review board, convened after the allegations surfaced in October, had recommended an investigation by the Auditor General and pushed for the probe to be concluded within three weeks.
However, the Audit Office said in January that, while the investigation was being given priority, it could not commit to a timeframe. The office has now said the investigation is “practically finalised”.
Ms Schembri had asked to be investigated and then went on leave, pending the conclusion of the investigation, to focus on defending her name.
This week, it became known that she had resigned her position on the supervisory committee of the EU’s anti-fraud agency (OLAF), which conducted the investigation that led to John Dalli’s resignation as European Commissioner.
She came under the spotlight after Mr Dalli questioned her role in the OLAF investigation – she served as an agency coordinator for the Maltese part of the probe – since she also sat on the supervisory committee.
Following the publication of the OLAF report, she faced allegations of impropriety by businessman Philip Rizzo and, separately, by Joseph Borg, of Swieqi, who was charged in court with attempting to blackmail the Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate head through an e-mail.
In that e-mail, Mr Borg had told Ms Schembri he would report her to OLAF if she did not pay money she owed to two Nigerians for breaching a lease agreement.
Mr Rizzo alleged 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 defended herself against Mr Rizzo’s allegations 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.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com