Malta Enterprise consultant now also ARMS chairperson

Nadia Pace, who currently serves as a consultant to Malta Enterprise through a €30,000-a-year direct order, will now be pocketing another €20,000 annually after being appointed chairperson of Automated Revenue Management Services, better known as ARMS Ltd.

Pace’s recent appointment was made by Energy Minister Miriam Dalli, who simultaneously ousted James Piscopo – the former close aide of disgraced prime minister Joseph Muscat – from the position.

Pace, who is registered as a voter in Zurrieq despite residing in Siggiewi, is a constituent of Miriam Dalli, who contests the 5^th electoral district. Both Malta Enterprise and ARMS Ltd fall under the political remit of the former face of Labour TV, now energy minister.

Pace, 42, the long-time girlfriend of former Labour reporter Anthony David Gatt, now a chief officer at Malta Enterprise, will be chairing a company responsible for the utilities’ billing system.

ARMS has been under fire after a court found that its billing systems defrauded consumers.

ARMS Ltd is owned by two state entities, Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation, with a number of their respective board members also sitting on the ARMS board.

Miriam Dalli’s political appointees joining Pace on the board include Tania Brown, once an aide to former finance minister Edward Scicluna, former Labour MP Maria Camilleri, Enemalta CEO Jonathan Cardona, Infrastructure Malta CEO Ivan Falzon, Ryan Pace (the prime minister’s former assistant at his private legal office, also appointed Malta Gaming Authority chairman), as well as Jonathan Scerri, the former Enemalta chairman stepped down after only seven months in office.

Nadia Pace’s latest political appointment comes after The Shift revealed that she is being given direct orders by Malta Enterprise while her boyfriend Anthony David Gatt serves as one of the chief officers at the same government entity.

While Gatt sees no conflict of interest between his role and that of his girlfriend, Pace is getting her direct orders through the intervention of Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia who, until a few years ago, was Gatt’s colleague at the Labour headquarters along with Miriam Dalli.

Malta Enterprise told The Shift that after resigning from the Malta Enterprise board in 2016, Pace had been tasked with working on various projects within the organisation, from investment promotion in the UK and other countries to coordinating work on Brexit to working on various strategic projects and corporate development.

Pace markets herself on social media as a ‘Board and Business Advisor’. She also sits on the board of Bluerock Operations Limited, the owners of Classic Jewellers and Diamonds International.

Until a few weeks ago, she was also appointed by the Archbishop’s Curia to serve on the board of Beacon Media Ltd, the Church’s media arm. Pace resigned only a few months after her appointment.