Senior Officials
The Auditor General
Mr Anthony C. Mifsud
The current Auditor General, Mr. Anthony C. Mifsud, FCIPD, was a career public officer. His last posting was as Permanent Secretary at the former Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure. His first deployment was at the Treasury for 5 years before being transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister on appointment as Higher Executive Officer in 1969.
In 1970 he was granted a UK Government fellowship to train as a Systems Analyst at the Mid-Essex College of Technology. At the Establishments Division he was deployed at the Efficiency Development Branch and later at the Organisation and Training Branch.
Following the recommendation of the Public Service Reform Commission, he was entrusted, in 1990, to set up the Staff Development Organisation and appointed its first Director.
In 1997, he was appointed Director General at the Office of the Prime Minister and was responsible for Defence, Information, Government Printing Press, Wireless Telegraphy and the setting up of the Charter Support Unit and involved in the establishment of the Regional Policy Directorate now styled the Planning & Priorities Coordination Division at OPM. In 2004, he was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure.
He was elected to the Executive Committee of the Standing Conference of the European Public Service Training Agencies, which he chaired for 4 years up to June 1998. From 1998 to 2001 he was the national representative on the International Council for IT in Government Administrations (ICA). Mr. Mifsud is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK and he holds a Diploma in Business Law and Accountancy.
He was a member of the University Council for twenty years and was the Government representative on the Board of the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University for 30 years.
Deputy Auditor General
Mr Charles Deguara
Mr Charles Deguara, B.A. (Hons), joined the Public Service in 1977 and was posted at the Water Works Department. In 1983, following successful completion of the B.A. (Hons) Business Management degree course, he was appointed as an Administrative Officer with the responsibility of managing the Human Resources Division.
In 1990, Mr Deguara’s appointment as Treasury Accounting Officer represented a major shift to the area of public finance. Mr Deguara joined the Budget Office within the Ministry of Finance in 1992 and in 1996 he was designated as Officer-in-Charge of the Expenditure Division, thus assuming an active role in the preparation and publication of the annual Budgetary Estimates as well as the Supplementary Estimates.
Mr Deguara’s appointment as Director, Policy and Planning at the Ministry for Home Affairs, in September 2000, marked another significant milestone throughout his Public Service career. In September 2001, Mr Charles Deguara was appointed as Director (Office of Review) within the same Ministry. This new Office’s main activities were focused on monitoring all EU-related initiatives and commitments, particularly those related to the screening and negotiations stages; co-ordinating improved service delivery projects and developing the Ministry’s international relations programme in such areas as police and judicial cooperation, extradition and exchange of sentenced prisoners. One of his major assignments included the overall management of the successful EU pre-accession project ‘Strengthening Malta’s capacity in Border Control and in the area of Asylum’ having a total budget of 1.6 million euros.
In August 2002, Mr Deguara was appointed as Director General at the Land and Public Registry Division which comprises the Public Registry, the Land Registry and the Civil Registration Department (including the Passport Office).
In May 2004, Mr Deguara was appointed as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs. This Ministry’s wide area of responsibilities ranged from the preservation of peace, order and security; the administration of Justice; the rehabilitation of prisoners within the correctional facilities; the reception, accommodation and integration of asylum seekers; the efficient management of Government’s immovable property and the ongoing monitoring of all Local Councils in Malta and Gozo. As Chairperson of the Schengen Task Force, Mr Deguara played a key role in ensuring the coordination of Malta’s timely and successful implementation of the various complex and extensive requirements necessary to enable accession to the Schengen zone in December 2007. This necessitated the certification of Malta’s highest level of compliance to the Schengen acquis, mainly through a number of extensive Peer Reviews, involving the participation of various experts from the EU Commission and the other Member States, held locally. Mr Deguara also led several high level delegations during visits abroad, including preliminary discussions related to Malta’s eventual accession to the United States Visa Waiver Programme and the successful negotiation of two bilateral agreements, which were subsequently signed in Malta, with the Chinese authorities.
On the 3rd November 2008, following a career of more than 31 years within the Public Service, Mr Deguara was appointed to his present position as Deputy Auditor General within the National Audit Office.
Assistant Auditor General
Mr Brian Vella
Mr Brian Vella, B.A. (Hons) Accty, FIA, CPA, has over twenty five years experience at the National Audit Office. Duties included being in charge, as Senior Principal, of financial and compliance auditing of a number of Government Ministries and Departments (January 1996 to April 1999); Audit Manager/Personal Assistant to Auditor General, providing quality control on audit reports, tendering advice and preparing papers and speeches on audit-related themes. Mr Vella was also in charge of EU-related and other international relations at the NAO (May 1999 to June 2006). Assistant Auditor General of the Performance Audit Section, responsible for overseeing Value for Money/Performance Audit assignments and issue of relative reports (July 2006 to date).
Assistant Auditor General
Ms Vanessa A. Tonna
Ms Vanessa A. Tonna, B.A. (Hons) Accty, MIA, CPA, has over ten years experience at the National Audit Office, coupled with experience from employment with private audit firms. Ms Tonna's career within the National Audit Office commenced as an Assistant Auditor (November 1999 – May 2000), being promoted to Senior Auditor with effect from June 2000 and further promoted to Principal Auditor during April 2001. Two years later appointed Audit Manager mainly in charge of financial and compliance audits of the then Ministry of Finance. Assistant Auditor General of the Financial and Compliance Audit Section, responsible for overseeing Regularity Audits, Special Audits and Investigations, and issue of relative reports as from December 2008 to date. Member (in an observer capacity) of the Corporate Financial Management Project Board and Public Finance Management Act Steering Committee.