The contract of former Enemalta CEO Karl Camilleri expired yesterday and it was not renewed in line with his request.

However, he will be helping Louis Giodimaina, who has been appointed executive chairman, take over for the next month or so, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said this morning.

Mr Giodimaina is a director at Lufthansa Technick, where he has also served as CEO for the past 10 years.

In a statement congratulated Mr Giordimaina and thanked Mr Camilleri and Willial Spiteri Bailey, who had been acting Enemalta chairman in the past months.

This morning, the minister said that Mr Camilleri, who was appointed in 2008, asked for his contract not to be renewed about a month ago as he wanted to pursue new avenues.

Mr Fenech denied that his contract was not renewed because of the Mercaptan inquiry.

The chemical Mercaptan, a smelly gas that is added to LPG household gas to give it its odour, was disposed off and burnt near Mgarr in 2009.

Enemalta is alleged to have instructed contractors to dispose of 10 barrels containing 450 gallons of the chemical by burning it in a field on the outskirts of Rabat .

At the time of the alleged burning there were numerous reports of a bad smell in various parts of Malta, the cause of which was never identified. Enemalta had assured the public there was no danger and none of its sites were leaking.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority had confirmed it did not authorise any burning of hazardous chemicals in an open field and launched a separate investigation into the matter.

Mr Fenech had also ordered an inquiry into how the chemical was disposed of.

He said this morning the investigation is at an advanced stage but its timesframes were not determined.

Mr Camilleri was appointed in 2008. He was reportedly asked to step down by the Enemalta board.

The minister was speaking during a visit to Melitech Design Ltd in Corradino.

The company, which employs seven people, offers research, development and industrialisation services of electronic products.

It has an expansion plan for the next five years which will see it increasing its workforce by two people a year.

Mr Fenech described the company as an example of value added industry Malta needed.

He said that an 8 million euro fund is being launched in February to help companies in R&D innovation.

When this fund was first launched, 90 companies had applied to benefit from the eight million which had been made available and this money had generated an investment of 12 million euros.