Mission accomplished: Carmen Ciantar given new CEO post

Barely 12 months after Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela sacked veteran PL activist Carmen Ciantar as CEO of the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS), she was gifted another government post, this time as CEO of the government’s competition authority.

The Shift is informed that Ciantar started serving as Executive Chairperson of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority this week, replacing Ing Helga Pizzuto, who has been at the helm of the authority for more than eight years.

Last December, The Shift quoted Labour officials who insisted that Ciantar was lobbying hard with the Office of the Prime Minister to get a new government job as CEO of one of its entities.

As part of this lobbying effort and to reaffirm her total commitment to Labour, Ciantar started giving ‘a helping hand’ to Labour Party CEO Leonid McKay to lobby for donations from prominent business people.

Companies that donated thousands to Labour’s telethon last December told The Shift of Ciantar’s intense pressure to solicit donations.

Questions to Parliamentary Secretary Andy Ellul to confirm Ciantar’s re-appointment and explain why he handpicked the sacked Foundation for Medical Services (FMS) CEO for the job were unanswered.

The financial package Ciantar has been given is unknown.

Ciantar was paid over €160,000 at the FMS, making her one of the highest-paid government CEOs.

Ciantar, a long-time PL activist, has been on the government’s gravy train since 2013. Originally a canvasser for disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi, she was appointed CEO of ARMS and held other taxpayer-funded posts.

Before 2017, she joined the bandwagon of then-minister Chris Fearne, a rival of Mizzi in the Paola district. She got the FMS CEO position while co-ordinating his campaign.

Ciantar’s relationship with Fearne soured after she unsuccessfully coordinated his Labour leadership campaign. Despite being the frontrunner, he lost to Robert Abela.

Last March, after Fearne’s replacement at the health ministry and his arraignment in court, Ciantar was sacked from her CEO post at the FMS. She was later given a consultancy contract by Family Affairs Minister Michael Falzon and started working as a ‘consultant’ in the private sector.