The new editor of the Labour Party's Sunday newspaper Kullħadd has been told to choose between his job at Malta Enterprise and his role as editor since the two posts have been deemed to be "incompatible".
Wenzu Mintoff is head of legal services at Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks Ltd, a role which means he oversees all the government agency's agreements and contracts. This makes him privy to commercially-sensitive information as well as to requests for financial assistance from local companies.
Sources said it was not considered appropriate for a senior employee of an important arm of the government to be perceived - both within the organisation and externally - as having such a serious potential conflict of interest. The sources added that members of the business community had also expressed unease about this kind of information being in the hands of a newspaper editor and this had promoted complaints.
Malta Enterprise chairman Alan Camilleri confirmed there was a "management issue", which had been communicated to Dr Mintoff by the board of directors, but he refused to comment further.
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said when contacted that there was a clear code of ethics for officers in the public sector which showed these two roles were in conflict.
"Newspapers carry a lot of stories about people in business and government contracts. This puts him in a very difficult position because he has access to a lot of confidential information."
Mr Fenech said the problem had already manifested itself in some articles published since Dr Mintoff took over the editorship of the newspaper.
The Finance Minister added that the situation would be the same if Dr Mintoff were the editor of any other newspaper. Sources also questioned how Dr Mintoff - who does not get paid for his post at the newspaper - could perform such a demanding role without impinging on his full-time post at Malta Enterprise.
However, Dr Mintoff is challenging the position of Malta Enterprise, arguing the code of ethics does not apply to him since the editorship of Kullħadd is a political role he is entitled to hold.
He declined to express an opinion on the issue when contacted by The Sunday Times yesterday, other than saying the matter was being handled by his lawyers.
"I find it very surprising that a Malta Enterprise internal matter has been leaked to your newspaper," he added.
When asked whether it believed the two roles were in conflict, the Labour Party said this was "yet another case of political victimisation and double standards".
The PL said it was also a clear case of the agenda of the party in government overlapping with State institutions.
"Labour has clear and unequivocal indications that this is a reprisal by high-ranking personalities within the Nationalist Party who have been exposed for what they did in Kullħadd," a Labour spokesman said, adding that Dr Mintoff would be defending his rights in court.
Malta Enterprise is the government agency responsible for attracting investment and giving incentives, while Malta Industrial Parks Ltd is the company that manages all the government's industrial estates.