Project Green has announced that former MFSA CEO Joseph Cuschieri as the new CEO of the agency, succeeding Steve Ellul who is now widely expected to declare himself as an MEP candidate for the Labour Party
“We have challenging and exciting times ahead and I am keen to keep building on the good work carried out by my predecessor Steve Ellul. Together with the team at Project Green, I will endeavour to develop and implement innovative and quality green projects which add value and a better environment to the communities in Malta and Gozo,” Cuschieri said in the announcement.
Cuschieri served as the CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority until 2020, when he resigned in the wake of a scandal where it was revealed that he had flown to Las Vegas with Yorgen Fenech in 2018, with the now alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder mastermind having paid for the trip himself.
He was found to have breached the MFSA’s ethics two days prior to his resignation, although Cuschieri had expressed reservations was to whether he was in breach of the ethics framework referred to in the authority’s investigation.
Project Green said that Cuschieri is a Certified Public Accountant, specialising in strategy formulation, corporate finance and business development. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Henley Management College, UK and an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK.
Cuschieri succeeds Steve Ellul, whose departure is now widely expected to open the way for him to contest the upcoming European Parliament elections from the Labour Party.
Ellul wrote on his Facebook page that his year leading Project Green was a “journey which gave me wonderful emotions and great satisfactions,” adding that the agency had turned six football pitches-worth of land into green spaces around Malta.
He thanked Environment Minister Miriam Dalli, saying that under her guidance a number of victories in favour of open spaces in the country had been achieved.
“Your courage is filling me with more energy and enthusiasm for what is to come,” he said.