PN ‘shocked’ by Formosa Gauci’s resignation

The Nationalist Party expressed shock over the resignation of MTA CEO Josef Formosa Gauci. MaltaToday revealed his resignation yesterday.

Formosa Gauci, highly respected and supported by the tourism sector, decided to call it a day after six years as the chief executive officer of the Malta Tourism Authority.

The PN said Formosa Gauci’s surprise resignation raised eyebrows. “This was not an expected resignation, especially in this time of the year when tourism is at its peak,” the PN said in a statement.

It went on to thank the former MTA chairman, the former ITS board, workers at the MTA and 85 former Air Malta workers.

Formosa Gauci’s resignation was confirmed by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis who said that Formosa Gauci indicated that he would like to move on. 

He described the meeting as very cordial and Formosa Gauci also assured him that he would be ensuring a smooth changeover until a new chief executive was identified.

“I had a very good relationship with Mr Formosa Gauci and until a few minutes ago he was on the phone.  We also discussed his future role without going into specifics about his future role as a consultant with MTA,” Zammit Lewis said.

Formosa Gauci grew unsettled in his post over the past months and it was no secret that his relationship with authority chairman, Gavin Gulia ,was far from rosy.

In January, former tourism minister Karmenu Vella defended Formosa Gauci when reports in the media accused him of pocketing €23,000 in allowances since 2008, on top of his €66,000 salary and for not availing himself of a chauffeur-driven car provided by the State.

The newspaper claimed Formosa Gauci was not driving his personal car but sill using a government vehicle.

But Vella defended Formosa Gauci publicly, saying the CEO was using a car belonging to the MTA’s car pool which is even shared by the minister’s himself and said that Formosa Gauci had not abused state allowances.