Luciano Busuttil heads towards Malta Sports Council

Following the resignation of the Malta Sports Council's (KMS) chairman Jonathan Barbara last month, Labour MP Luciano Busuttil is set to become the new chairman of KMS.

Former ONE TV journalist Mark Cutajar is expected to be appointed CEO of the same entity. Cutajar is also a former director of sport within the Maltese Olympic Committee.

Citing personal reasons, Barbara resigned four months after being appointed to the post, succeeding Bernard Vassallo who had been at the helm of the council for five years.

The KMS was recently embroiled in controversy after a number of highly placed ministerial aides serving under the Nationalist administration were given transfers to the national sports council, literally hours from the 9 March general elections.

Also recently, parliamentary secretary for sports Stefan Buontempo complained that operational expenses make up two-thirds of the total budget allocated to the KMS.

According to Buontempo, only 17% of the budget was being invested in sport organisations.

Busuttil's appointment to the board was made possible after the government passed an amendment to a law precluding MPs from sitting on government boards and entities.

The Opposition had decried the amendment as a way to appease backbenchers and had also refused having anyone of its Nationalist MPs sit on boards offered by the Labour government.