The U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday it is barring two former Maltese government officials and their families from entering the country because they engaged in “corrupt acts” for personal benefit.
The former Maltese public officials are Konrad Mizzi, who served as the minister of energy and conservation of water, and Keith Schembri, who was chief of staff to the nation’s prime minister.
The U.S. said in its statement that Mizzi and Schembri were bribed to award a government contract to a company for the construction of a power plant.
“Their actions undermined rule of law and the Maltese public’s faith in their government’s democratic institutions and public processes,” spokesperson Ned Price said in the statement.
Malta, an island country south of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea, is embroiled in controversy over alleged government corruption involving an energy company called 17 Black Limited.
An investigation from Reuters and the Times of Malta revealed that in 2015, Mizzi, then the minister of energy and conservation of water, bought a wind farm with the state energy department.
The deal reaped $5 million in profit for 17 Black Limited, Reuters found.
At the same time, Mizzi and Schembri were set to receive payments from 17 Black Limited, although the Reuters investigation did not reveal whether they officially collected the money.
The owner of 17 Black Limited, a man named Yorgen Fenech, is awaiting trial for allegedly planning the 2017 murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was investigating his company and government corruption. Fenech has denied the allegations.
Caruana Galizia’s death triggered an outcry in Malta that led to the resignation of the country’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, in 2020.