Opposition MPs walk out of Carmen Ciantar’s ‘sham’ nomination meeting

Opposition MPs shunned the parliamentary public appointments committee’s nomination session for Carmen Ciantar as Executive Chair of the Competition Authority (MCCAA), calling it a “sham exercise.”

Before walking out of the session, PN MPs Adrian Delia, Rebekah Borg, and Julie Zahra insisted that they would not participate in a decision that Prime Minister Robert Abela had already taken behind parliament’s back and in total contempt of its authority.

The Shift revealed that Ciantar was already listed on the government’s internal staff directory before the parliamentary committee had a chance to consider the nomination.

It has now been confirmed that, despite no vacancy, Ciantar had already been appointed without the current Chair, Helga Pizzuto, even being aware of it even though Pizzuto’s contract expires in July.

The opposition MPs walked out of the session in protest.

Earlier, Pizzuto informed the committee that she was still Chair, with her contract set to end in July. She told the committee she was uncertain of what her next role would be, if any.

“I will remain in my position until July. I have not resigned. If they want me to resign, I have no problem with that, but there needs to be a proper process,” she explained.

Pizzuto also confirmed that there was no formal process for Ciantar to become CEO and that the board had not been informed about the selection process.

“I was called to a meeting and told that Ciantar would be the new CEO. It was presented to me that way, and that’s all,” Pizzuto said.

Ciantar, a long-time Labour activist, has been associated with the government’s inner circle since 2013.

Shortly after Labour regained power that year, she began campaigning for the disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi, who appointed her as the CEO of ARMS Ltd.

She later shifted her support to Chris Fearne, who appointed her to the position at the Foundation for Medical Services with a salary of €163,000, as revealed by The Shift. The Auditor General deemed her contract to be “irregular.”

After being dismissed by Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela last year, Ciantar has managed to return to a senior position in a government agency after she participated in Labour’s electoral fundraising campaign, meeting with businesses to solicit substantial donations.

Soon after, Prime Minister Robert Abela appointed her CEO of the MCCAA, a public-funded role.

In the parliamentary committee on Tuesday, government MPs rubber-stamped Ciantar’s nomination at the end of a short committee session.