Government’s chief civil servant tells PL president that he has no conflict

Labour Party president Alex Sciberras is insisting that a board established by the government’s Principal Permanent Secretary, Tony Sultana, found no apparent conflict in his appointment to chair the Embryo Protection Authority while retaining his party presidency.

However, the process remains shrouded in secrecy, as Sultana, whose political impartiality has faced scrutiny over the last years, has failed to answer questions identifying the board’s members or provide the written assessment behind the clearance.

Sciberras cited the finding after concerns were raised about his simultaneous leadership of the governing party and the embryo regulator, which makes sensitive decisions involving IVF and human embryos.

“Before accepting the appointment, I therefore formally declared my party role and requested a conflict of interest assessment,” Sciberras said.

He said the matter was examined by the “Conflict of Interest Board established by the Principal Permanent Secretary”, which found “no apparent conflict of interest” and confirmed its conclusion in writing.

Sciberras confirmed he would remain Labour president and promised to disclose any specific conflict arising in future. He also acknowledged reservations about the appointment, pledging independent decisions and respect for patients’ privacy.

The Shift asked Sultana to identify the body, disclose its membership and provide its terms of reference and the instrument establishing it.

He was also asked who participated in Sciberras’s assessment, whether anyone declared an interest or recused themselves, and when the review was requested and concluded.

Requests for Sciberras’s declaration, the assessment and the letter communicating its outcome went unanswered.

Health Minister Ian Borg appointed Sciberras, a lawyer, to replace former judge Antonio Mizzi.

The authority oversees ethical standards, inspects clinics and authorises specified procedures involving embryos. It also develops fertility treatment protocols. Its board members are legally required to exercise independent judgment without outside direction.

Labour’s women’s branch, Nisa Laburisti, campaigns on matters within that remit. Its executive includes Sciberras’s partner, Sarah Haider, while its president has advocated wider embryo genetic testing and additional options for unused embryos.

Sciberras’s sister, Women’s Rights Foundation founder Lara Dimitrijevic, campaigns for abortion rights. These connections do not establish improper influence, but the undisclosed assessment leaves unanswered whether their relevance was examined.

So far, neither the Archbishop’s Curia nor the opposition Nationalist Party has publicly commented on the appointment of the governing party’s president to lead the regulator.

Sciberras also has a succession of publicly funded roles.

The Shift reported in September that he joined Chris Fearne’s Foreign Ministry as a paid adviser. That report also cited earlier reporting on €267,420 in fees for representing Malta in the Steward Healthcare arbitration, which the government lost.

Sultana’s political impartiality has itself faced scrutiny.

Images and videos reported by The Shift in June showed him participating in Labour’s election victory celebrations in Valletta. Before becoming head of the Public Service, he served as Labour’s representative on the Electoral Commission.

The public-administration framework provides for a Conflicts of Interest Committee comprising serving or retired permanent secretaries. Sultana has not confirmed whether this was the body that examined Sciberras’s appointment.

This is the second government-paid job given to the Labour president since last May’s election. The part-time position will add approximately €20,000 a year to his income.