I refer to the article entitled Enterprise Board Did Not Vet Mizzi Job (September 26), quoting anonymous members of the board of directors of Malta Enterprise and other unspecified sources.

Malta Enterprise would like to state the following.

On regional leaders.

The National Audit Office’s Audit of Malta Enterprise for the Financial year 2012 belies the statement, allegedly made by either a member of the board or not further specified anonymous “sources”, that the recruitment of regional leaders had “followed a rigorous and transparent selection process and was approved by the board of directors”.

Evidently, the National Audit Office found otherwise.

On envoys.

The article also quotes an anonymous “member [of the board] who has been on the board for several years” as saying that “Malta Enterprise never had the post of ‘envoy’ and that this position had been created for the first time”. The facts bluntly belie this statement.

According to a contract signed by the chairman at the time, Alan Camilleri, with effect from June 1, 2011, Malta Enterprise did, in fact, engage an envoy for life sciences, who was also to chair the Bio Malta Foundation, for a sum of €750,000.

In line with the same contract, part of this sum in question was to be paid to a company in which the envoy had a direct interest. The arrangement was terminated by Malta Enterprise in April 2013 on grounds of non-performance.

On the board’s role.

In terms of the Malta Enterprise Act, the affairs of the corporation are directed by and are the responsibility of the board (article 10 [1]). Yet, it is the chief executive officer who, subject to the direction of the board, carries on, manages and controls the operations and business of the corporation (article 13[3]). Appointments other than the CEO’s, fall under the operational management and control function of the CEO as prescribed by the Act.