Malta Gaming Authority rejects claims it punished ‘whistleblower’

malta-gaming-authority-whistleblower

malta-gaming-authority-whistleblowerMalta’s online gambling regulator is pushing back against ‘whistleblower’ claims made by a former employee.

On Wednesday, the Washington-based National Whistleblower Center (NWC) made public a letter it sent to Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and to Gianluca Esposito, exec secretary of the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), seeking protection for former Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) staffer Valery Atanasov.

The NWC’s letter claims Atanasov observed “IT irregularities and lack of enforcement” of gambling regulations, which he claimed “could allow for money laundering and other crimes.” The letter claimed Atanasov was disciplined and eventually fired after approaching MGA execs with his concerns, and the NWC requested that GRECO “officially monitor this case.”

On Thursday, the MGA published its response to the NWC’s letter, claiming Atanasov was terminated from his job as an IT Administrator in February 2015 due to “charges of incompetence, poor performance and abuse” dating back to 2011.

The MGA said Atanasov was afforded “lengthy disciplinary proceedings, presided by external and independent adjudicators” but “various witnesses, independent of the Authority, testified about Mr. Antanasov’s shortcomings.”

The MGA further claims that Atanasov’s allegations of wrongdoing only emerged “at the end of the disciplinary proceedings,” and that these allegations were “duly investigated” by the MGA’s internal auditor and “no irregularities were discovered.”

The MGA said it “did not take any retaliatory action” against Atanasov until May 2017, after he “started making serious and false allegations” about the MGA’s activities. The MGA subsequently commenced judicial proceedings against Atanasov “to protect its reputation.” It wasn’t until November 22, 2017 that Atanasov made an official claim for whistleblower protection.

The MGA says it will cooperate fully with GRECO and any other independent authority “to prove that nothing irregular took place.”

Atanasov’s situation was raised in parliament last week, and PM Muscat responded that Atanasov’s claims had been investigated and were determined to be “unfounded.”

Malta’s regulators have been in the hot seat following the most recent crackdown by Italian police on MGA’s Italian-facing online licensees. The MGA responded by launching a probe of all its Italian licensees and announcing the formation of a new anti-money laundering unit.

In January, just weeks before the latest MGA-associated arrests, Italian authorities complained that they weren’t getting enough cooperation from the MGA. This week, Italian Senator Franco Mirabelli repeated these complaints, telling Italian news outlet Agimeg that Italian authorities “did not find on the Maltese side collaboration and availability.”