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.

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.

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. 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.

In November 2008, after a career of more than 31 years within the public service, Mr Deguara was appointed as Deputy Auditor General at the National Audit Office following the necessary Parliamentary approval during the sitting held on 16 July 2008. He was re-confirmed in this position following Parliamentary unanimous approval given during the sitting held on 10 June 2013. During these 8 years, in close liaison with the Auditor General, he was actively involved in various key initiatives undertaken by the Office, such as:

⦁ Leading the management team during negotiations with Union officials in connection with the two Collective Agreements (2008 – 2012 and 2013 – 2016) which both introduced a number of innovative measures aimed to enhance staff motivation, and consequently efficiency levels, within the Office;

⦁ Coordinating all preparations undertaken by the Organising Team in connection with the Commonwealth Auditors’ General Conference held in March 2014 by way of celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the setting up of a state audit institution in Malta. Was also actively involved in various other initiatives undertaken by the NAO to commemorate this critical milestone including the publication of a duly updated second edition of the ‘Guardian of the Public Purse’ as well as the issuance of a commemorative personalised cover stamp in collaboration with MaltaPost; and

⦁ Representing the NAO on various committees, such as the Government Finance Statistics Committee and the Task Force on Social Security Reform Abuse and Fraud.

On 30th March 2016, Mr. Deguara was sworn in as Auditor General. He was reconfirmed as Auditor General on 29 March 2021 following unanimous approval by the House of Representatives of Motion 478, dated 24 March 2021, for a second five-year period in terms of the Constitution of Malta. He is married to Josette and has one daughter, Susanna, spouse of Ian Gabriel Grech.

Deputy Auditor General – Mr Noel Camilleri

Noel Camilleri BA (Hons) Bus Mangt., MBA (Bath,UK), CIPFA Hon was appointed Deputy Auditor General on 30 March 2016. He was re-confirmed in this position following unanimous approval by Parliament in March 2021. Previously, Noel held the position of Accountant General for 14 years.

Noel’s career in the Public Service started in 1990, after having pursued his studies at the University of Malta where he graduated in Business Management. Over the years he worked in different sections of the Treasury Department occupying various positions.

In 1997 he was awarded a scholarship to read for an MBA at the University of Bath (UK). On obtaining his postgraduate degree Noel returned to the Treasury where he spearheaded the implementation of a Corporate Accounting System across Government Departments.

Following his appointment as Director of the Treasury, Noel set the pace for the organisational restructuring of the Department which, amongst others, included greater focus on the core Treasury functions, namely Government Accounting and Debt Management.

Noel served on the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Board of Directors between July 2013 and January 2016 and on the Board of Auditors of European Stability Mechanism (ESM) between October 2018 and October 2021.

In 2014, he was awarded an Honorary CIPFA membership in recognition of his significant contribution to improving public financial management in Malta.

As Deputy Auditor General, Noel assists the Auditor General in charting the strategic direction of the National Audit Office and spearheads high priority initiatives undertaken by the Office from time to time.

Assistant Auditor General – Ms Tanya Mercieca

Ms Tanya Mercieca FIA, CPA and Certified Public Auditor commenced her career with the National Audit Office (NAO) in September 2001 as a Senior Auditor with the Performance
Audit Section.  She was promoted to the grade of Principal Auditor within the Financial and Compliance Section six months later.  In 2003, Ms Mercieca was attached with the UK NAO on secondment for six months, gaining experience in public sector accrual-based accounting of several clients, within an Audit Unit responsible for the financial audit of the Department of Culture, Media, and Sports. 

Shortly after this secondment, Ms Mercieca was appointed as Audit Manager in 2004 when she was responsible for supervising regulatory audits of various Ministries, Government Departments and Public Entities.  In 2009, she also took over the monitoring of audits of Local Councils.

As from 1 October 2011, Ms Mercieca was assigned the position of Acting Assistant Auditor General responsible for the Financial and Compliance Audit Section, which official appointment was confirmed on 1 November 2012.

While working with the NAO, in November 2015, Ms Mercieca was appointed as Member of the College of Auditors for the European Institute for Security Studies, an agency of the European Union based in Paris, with a core mission to assist the EU and its member states in the implementation of Common Foreign and Security Policy. Ms Mercieca’s appointment was renewed in October 2018 for another three years. After a total of 6 years, when her mandate expired, she was nominated to audit an EU funded project undertaken by the Agency on cyber security, which assignment was finalized in 2022.

In 2019, on the recommendation of the Auditor General and the official endorsement of the Member of the Provisional Council for Malta, Ms Mercieca was appointed as Member of the Audit Board of the EUROCONTROL, which is an international organisation headquartered in Brussels and works to achieve safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly air traffic management across the European region. Her term of office started on 1 July 2019 and will end on 30 June 2023.

Ms Mercieca particiapted in various international working groups, such as the Fiscal Policy Audit Network for Supreme Audit Institutions and the VAT working group set up in cooperation with the European Court of Auditors and EUROSAI. She represented the NAO on other committees locally, including that on the Financial Legislation Reform which was finalised in 2019, the IPSAS Project Board and the working group related to Local Government Good Governance.

Ms Mercieca also has a 24-year service with VF (Malta) Ltd. (formerly Blue Bell (Malta) Ltd.) since January 1977, where she occupied various positions within this manufacturing company.  Amongst others, these included the post of Accountant in the Finance Department and that of a supervisor in the Production Planning Department. She joined the Tax and Legal Services Department at PricewaterhouseCoopers in March 2001, before taking up employment with the NAO.

Assistant Auditor General – Mr Keith Mercieca

Mr Keith Mercieca joined the National Audit Office in 2011. In his current role as Assistant Auditor General, Keith manages the audits commissioned to the Office by Parliament. Prior to his engagement with the National Audit Office, Keith held directorships and managerial roles within the Maltese public service, namely, within the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry for Finance. He also has an active role within the international state audit community, contributing in various capacities on initiatives ranging from the development of professional capacities, methodology setting and the audit of diverse substantive areas.

Mr Mercieca is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta, with a focus on governance, public management and leadership.

Keith holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy, a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Psychology degree.

Assistant Auditor General – Mr William Peplow

Mr. Peplow has been employed at the National Audit Office since 1986 and, since June 2023, he has held the post of Assistant Auditor General within the Performance Audit Unit. He was previously managing performance audits as a Senior Audit Manager/Audit Manager since 1999. 

He has participated in parallel audits with State Audit Institutions of other EU Member States dealing with environmental themes and EU funding, including Structural Funds.  Since 1994, he has been the NAO’s representative in the INTOSAI and EUROSAI Working Groups on Environmental Audit.  Mr. William Peplow holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy, a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Diploma in Public Administration

External Affairs and Research Officer – Mr Brian Vella

Mr Brian Vella, B.A. (Hons) Accty, FIA, CPA, has over forty years experience at the National Audit Office. His career at the NAO started in 1980 as a student worker.  He was appointed Administrative Office in 1984. Subsequently, 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, as well as being the liaison officer for international relations (July 2006 to March 2023). External Affairs and Research Officer (May 2023 to date)