Maltese Authorities Say LGA Chief Has No Conflicts Of Interest

by Robert Lee, for LawAndTax-News.com, London

26 August 2004

The Maltese authorities have declared that the disposal by Mario Galea, CEO of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA), of his stake in an e-gaming service provider, Bell Med was undertaken in a transparent manner, and that no suspicions or conflict of interest allegations can be levelled at him.

Bell Med, which reportedly provides technical services for 70% of the internet gaming firms registered in Malta, became the property of Computer Aided Technologies (CAT), a firm owned by Mr Galea, in 2002.

In a report published in April of this year, Malta Today raised the question of whether Mr Galea's position as head of the LGA, with responsibility for the issuance of gaming licenses might create a conflict of interest, given his involvement in Bell Med.

Mr Galea later revealed that he had disposed of the shareholding in question to a nominee company called Knights Corporate Business Ltd.

Reporting at the weekend, Malta Today expressed reservations regarding the completeness of the transfer of ownership, explaining that:

"Knights Corporate Business Ltd is in fact the nominee company which appears under the directorship of Gatt Galea & Co's senior partners: Richard Galea, Franco Privitelli and Raymond Gatt...The accountancy firm is in fact another player in the I-gaming industry, assisting in the creation of international trading companies for internet gaming operators."

The newspaper went on to add that:

"Like all nominee companies, Kinghts Corporate Business is a legal structure for trustees to act on behalf of clients which do not wish to have their names appear on paper. As directors of Knights Corporate Business, Gatt, Galea and Privitelli appear as the trustees for whoever owns Computer Aided Technologies and for that matter Bell Med Ltd."

However, despite the suspicions expressed by Malta Today, the LGA chief has been endorsed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi as having "no interest in any business, employment, consultancies, fiduciary positions, representations or other interest whether financial or otherwise, in any business firm, organisation, company or other entity".

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