Prime minister forced in parliament to confirm new post for Carmen Ciantar

Prime Minister Robert Abela was forced to confirm his government’s new appointment of party activist Carmen Ciantar as Executive Chairman of the Malta Consumer and Competition Affairs Authority (MCCAA) even though he tried to hide it in a reply to parliament last week.

Following revelations by The Shift that the former CEO of the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS) was appointed CEO and Executive Chair of the government’s consumer affairs regulator, PN MP Mark Sammut asked the prime minister to table her contract.

Instead of obliging, Abela told parliament that the Executive Chair of the MCCAA was Helga Pizzuto.

A few days later, the PN MP, backed by data from the government’s internal online directory, insisted that the prime minister was playing with words, forcing Abela to confirm The Shift’s original story.

Replying to a follow-up PQ by the same MP, Abela confirmed that Ciantar has already started working as the new CEO at the MCCAA and that the OPM has put her name forward to take over the role of Executive Chairperson in the coming days.

“I was not wrong in my original reply, as Helga Pizzuto is still the Executive Chairperson,” Abela told parliament.

He was then forced to admit: “At the end of January, Carmen Ciantar was appointed CEO and, at the same time, the Public Appointments Committee (PAC) was sent her nomination for her appointment as Executive Chairperson.”

According to law, the PAC must approve the appointment of the Executive Chair of the MCCAA. While, in the current context, this is a mere formality as the government commands a majority in this committee and always approves such nominations, the prime minister did not even bother to respect the process.

In clear contempt of parliamentary process, Ciantar was included in the government’s online directory as the Executive Chair of the MCCAA, without the parliamentary committee’s approval.

The Shift has already reported how Ciantar, until last year the chief canvasser of former Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, made a major personal effort last December to participate in the Labour Party’s electoral fundraising campaign.

She met various businessmen on behalf of the PL and asked them for tens of thousands of donations to the party. Businessmen pressured to meet her and pay up confirmed this to The Shift.

After her sacking from the FMS when Fearne was forced to leave his position in government,  Ciantar tried to work in the private sector. Yet it was tough to match the scandalous €163,000 contract Fearne gave her.

So far, the prime minister has refused to publish her contract.