Evarist Bartolo turns up the pressure on MFSA chairman Joe Bannister to resign
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo insisted yesterday that he is not on a crusade against MFSA Chairman Joe Bannister, and neither is it true that he wants the managing director of the Finco Trust Group of Companies, Paul Bonello, to replace Mr Bannister, as has been suggested in sections of the media.
“Paul Bonello has no interest in taking over and I have no interest in pushing him either,” Mr Bartolo said during a radio interview. He said he continues to criticise Mr Bannister because he is a person with a public role and “he didn’t fulfil his duties.”
The issue, Mr Bartolo said, is that when someone holds a post of that calibre for more than 10 years, he starts to act as if it is his own personal property and, as such, decisions taken might not be in the best interest of the larger picture. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think it’s healthy for someone to retain his position as a regulator for 20 years.”
Mr Bartolo said that neither should University Deans think they hold a position for life. “Does it make sense for a Dean at University to stay there forever? This will keep a number of people back.” Mr Bartolo said that we need to learn more from the American ‘revolving door’ system, using the American president as an example, “as good as he is, he can’t stay there longer than two terms”.
Speaking on ‘Għandi xi ngħid’, Mr Bartolo proposed the idea of severe grilling before someone is given high public positions, as long as the people who are interviewing are not the people who have the power to appoint the roles. Mentioning Toni Abela briefly, Mr Bartolo said that he speaks with him regularly and Dr Abela is still traumatised by his failure to pass the European Parliament scrutiny to join the European Court of Auditors.
The discussion then moved on to No-Portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi and the OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, who three months ago were found to have secretly opened companies in Panama. Minister Bartolo had previously said that, if it were him, he would have resigned. “There is nothing illegal in opening offshore accounts and companies; but apart from following laws, one also has to be correct.”