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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 JULY 2014 News MALTA Tourism Authority chief Josef Formosa Gauci will be step- ping down from authority CEO, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis confirmed yesterday. Speaking to MaltaToday, Zammit Lewis confirmed that he had been approached by Formosa Gauci and informed that he would like to stand down from the post, indicating 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 identi- fied. "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." Formosa Gauci served as Malta Tourism Authority CEO for the last six years and was highly respected and supported in the tourism sec- tor. He was appointed by the previ- ous PN administration and retained by Labour, enjoying both the trust of the industry as well as that of Zammit Lewis' predecessor, Kar- menu Vella. Over the past months, Formosa Gauci grew unsettled in his post and it was no secret that his relation- ship with the authority's chairman, Gavin Gulia, was far from rosy. In January, Vella defended For- mosa Gauci who was accused by the General Workers Union daily l-Orizzont 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 newspa- per claimed Formosa Gauci was not driving his personal car but still us- ing 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 minis- ter himself, and said that Formosa Gauci had not abused state allow- ances. "You can have people paid €100,000 who are worth every cent, or someone paid €20,000 who is not worth the money," Vella had said. However, Formosa Gauci was unsettled because of his poor rela- tionship with Gulia. Gulia and the ministry's perma- nent secretary, Joe Borg, appeared to be at odds with Formosa Gauci, who however enjoyed the support of Karmenu Vella. Last month, Gulia was reappoint- ed chairman of the MTA, but only after a stern rebuke by a high-rank- ing government official and some straight talking about his role so far as MTA chairman. His reappointment has been ques- tioned by various tourism opera- tors, who told MaltaToday that the former Labour MP may not be the most suitable candidate for the job. The MTA had been operating without a board for some time, af- ter the previous appointees' term expired early in June – unofficially, the vacuum was caused by serious doubts at the Office of the Prime Minister about Gulia being the right man for the job. A former tourism minister in the 1996 Sant administration, Gulia failed to get re-elected in Labour's 2013 election win. The MTA board is made up of 11 voting members and of the chief ex- ecutive, who is a non-voting mem- ber. Six are appointed by the minis- ter on the basis of their knowledge and experience of the sector; one is nominated by the MHRA, another by travel agents, and another by Air Malta; and two others on the rec- ommendation of associations rep- resenting other sectors providing travel and tourism services. DANIEL MIZZI HARISH Daswani, 38, of St Julian's was yesterday granted bail after plead- ing not guilty to exploiting, threaten- ing, and trafficking his father's Indo- nesian carer. Magistrate Gabriella Vella heard that the accused had employed Ori- ance Kelin to take care of his father. He then allegedly failed to pay her, with- held her passport and demanded that she works extra hours. The carer then lodged a police re- port, requesting that the police insti- tute criminal proceedings against her employer, and demanded that she be paid, prosecuting inspector Sylvana Briffa told the court. The accused denied all charges, stat- ing that he had never exploited her and that he always treated her well. Daswani pleaded not guilty to hu- man trafficking, exploitation, and of threatening Oriance Kelin. Magistrate Vella granted bail against a deposit of €2,000 and a personal guarantee of €5,000. Lawyer Roberto Montalto represent- ed the accused. 24 Republic Street, Valletta next to the Courts MTA chief decides to call it a day Man denies trafficking, exploiting father's carer Harish Daswani Josef Formosa Gauci

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