‘Super CEO’ Pierre Fenech loses one of his two managerial positions

Pierre Fenech, dubbed ‘Super CEO’ for his unique position as the only government employee with two CEO posts at two different government entities, has lost his position at the Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC), tourism ministry sources confirmed.

He will lose some €40,000 per year from the combined €122,000 financial package granted to him by former minister Clayton Bartolo.

Minister Ian Borg, now responsible for tourism, has not approved the renewal of Fenech’s contract at the MCC but Fenech will continue to act as CEO of the Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS).

A former beverage manager at Montekristo Estates, Fenech jumped on the government’s bandwagon soon after the Labour Party was elected to power in 2013.

He often made headlines for the wrong reasons, particularly in 2019 when he gave Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar a phantom contract to act as his consultant.

A probe by the Standards Commissioner found that Fenech acted irregularly but Prime Minister Robert Abela kept him in his position, insisting Fenech was just obeying orders from disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi.

Fenech was exposed last year for using his ITS position to take his wife on a free Mediterranean cruise which was paid for by ITS and Viking Cruises at a time when he was negotiating with the company over sending its employees to study and train at the ITS. Fenech was accompanied on the cruise by Labour MP Ramona Attard and her partner, an ITS employee.

A probe by the standards commissioner questioned Fenech’s ethics for accepting the freebie but acquitted him of wrongdoing because the permanent secretary at the tourism ministry, Anthony Gatt, approved all expenses. Gatt has since been removed.

Fenech was also caught giving a direct order from ITS funds to architect Gilbert Bartolo in 2021, the brother of his then-minister Clayton Bartolo. Fenech told The Shift he did not know the architect was his minister’s brother at the time of the direct order.