Former 'golden passports' chief appointed Enemalta CEO

Jonathan Cardona has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Enemalta plc with effect from 11 October, succeeding Jason Vella, who will help out during the transition.

“Together with the company board, the management, workers and shareholders, I look forward to continue building on the good work carried out throughout the years, and strengthen such a crucial corporation for the Maltese economy,” said Cardona.

Cardona previously served as the chief executive of the Individual Invester Programme Agency.

Jonathan Scerri has been appointed as chairperson of the Board of Directors and said, “I am honoured and at the same time eager to lead Enemalta’s board. [...] There is a lot of work to be done and several targets to be met.” 

Enemalta thanked Vella and Chircop for their work and wished them success in their new roles.

Last August, various localities experienced long and frequent power cuts, with Enemalta apologsing and stating that they were caused by weaknesses in distribution network. 

Prior to this, Enemalta has suffered its fair share of corruption scandals. It had invested in a windfarm project in Montenegro in 2015, after buying the shares from Cifidex, a Seychelles-based company.

However, an investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta revealed that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech’s 17 Black profited from the windfarm deal through its business relationship with Cifidex.

Other controversial investments include the one-third sale of Enemalta and the sale of the majority stake of the BWSC power station to the Chinese state-owned Shanghai Electric.

Another saw the involvement of the Azerbaijani state-owned SOCAR in the new Delimara power station’s Electrogas consortium, as well as the government’s contractual commitment to purchase natural gas from that company for 18 years