Failing Malita appoints top senior management with ties to Minister Galdes

Two senior positions recently announced at the cash-strapped government agency responsible for affordable housing projects, Malita Investments plc, appear to have close ties to Minister Roderick Galdes, accused by former Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi of interfering in the affairs of the publicly listed company.

Sources at Malita revealed that the new CEO, Marlene Attard, had previously been refused a position at the same entity. A few months ago, she failed an interview for the Chief Operating Officer role, which was later filled by an architect still employed at the organisation.

Malita, which is 80% government-owned with the remaining shares traded on the Malta Stock Exchange, has refused to answer questions regarding the latest appointments.

Asked by The Shift whether the new CEO, Attard, and the new Chief Financial Officer, Stephen McCarthy, were directly recommended by Minister Galdes, the company did not reply. It also failed to explain how Attard, who was not given the COO role only a few months ago, was now selected to lead the financially embattled entity.

Attard, from Marsascala, spent most of her career as an official at the Planning Authority, during the time Roderick Galdes also worked there. She is the partner of Johann Buttigieg, the Executive Chairman of the Planning Authority. She left the Authority in 2016 while serving as Director of Corporate Services.

After a few years at RS2, a privately owned, foreign software company based in Malta, she resigned at the end of 2024 to start a private consultancy.

Malita sources said Attard did not apply for the CEO position through an open call; rather, her application was forwarded by one of the government-appointed board members.

Malita refused to confirm.

The new CFO, McCarthy, is even more closely connected to Minister Galdes.

An accountant by profession, McCarthy previously served as Galdes’s CEO at the Housing Authority until 2018, after which he became CEO of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority. He also spent several years working at the General Workers’ Union printing press.

One of the government appointees on the Malita board is Victor Carachi, the President of the General Workers’ Union.

The new leadership arrives against a backdrop of mounting financial and operational challenges for the government entity. Once a relatively stable vehicle for projects such as the Valletta City Gate redevelopment, Malita’s pivot toward large-scale social housing – combined with the transfer of political responsibility from Finance Minister Clyde Caruana to Galdes – proved disastrous.

The company’s flagship affordable housing project in Luqa was halted after it exhausted available funding, leaving contractors unpaid and work suspended.

The liquidity squeeze also forced Malita to suspend interim dividends – the first pause since its listing –  and its share price has slumped to an all‑time low, unnerving private investors.