Retired forensic expert is new voluntary organisations commissioner

Anthony Abela Medici has succeeded Kenneth Wain as voluntary organisations commissioner, the Sports Parliamentary Secretariat said.

Abela Medici will only be the second commissioner to occupy the post, which was created in 2007 to oversee voluntary organisations.

The appointment follows Wain's resignation last month after claiming that the law regulating voluntary organisations needed urgent changes. The Education Ministry has promised to enact the necessary changes in a reform of the law that will shortly be tabled in Parliament.

Abela Medici spent 30 years working in the police’s forensic laboratory and in 2016 was elected by the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe to serve on the Committee of Experts for the Prevention of Torture and inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Over the years he chaired various boards of inquiries and also served as chairman of the Guard and Warden Disciplinary Board.

He is chairman of the Malta Road Safety Council, a member of the Malta Transport Authority and represents Malta as the local representative of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Abela Medici’s CV also includes his presidency of the Malta Cactus and Succulent Society and a member of the Scout Association of Malta.

The secretariat said Abela Medici’s activism in different organisation should serve him as good background experience for his new post.

The commissioner ensures that the provisions of the Voluntary Organisations Act are fulfilled. The law regulates voluntary organisations to ensure they achieve high standards of accountability and transparency.