Malta Gaming Authority CTO resigns amid police investigation over data misuse

Top Malta Gaming Authority official Jason Farrugia, who resigned as CTO on Thursday, is under investigation for data misuse. The former executive stepped down from the role as the MGA referred the case to the police.

In a statement shared on Thursday, the MGA confirmed Farrugia no longer works for the authority. “The Malta Gaming Authority hereby declares that Jason Farrugia, formerly Chief Officer Technology within the MGA, no longer has any connection to the MGA and can no longer represent it or speak on its behalf,” the statement reads.

Farrugia is being investigated over alleged “misuse of sensitive internal information,” reports Times of Malta. Sources with the MGA told the news website that Farrugia, who until Thursday worked as chief technology officer, was being investigated by police for having allegedly made irregular access to confidential and commercially sensitive information held at the regulator.

The investigation is being led by the police’s Financial Crime Investigation Department. The former CTO was first suspended from the regulator earlier this month and an internal review last week decided to dismiss him. He tendered his resignation after being informed of the MGA’s decision, on Thursday morning.

Senior sources within the MGA told Times of Malta that Farrugia had been caught “red-handed” misusing the data. A review of his work devices found he was moving confidential information from the MGA servers to a personal account. People familiar with the matter say the police will now “have to establish what he was doing” with the data.

Earlier this year, the MGA also made the headlines over alleged data breaches. Local media revealed the regulator’s former CEO, Heathcliff Farrugia, is facing criminal charges following an investigation into trading in influence with Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech.

Heathcliff Farrugia was charged back in January, with both the investigation and court action against the former gaming regulator being kept under wraps. Farrugia resigned in October last year, shortly after he was questioned by police over his communication with Fenech, an alleged conspirator in the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.