In another episode where it happened that Chris Fearne’s name has once again showed up in another scandalous case with a close collaborator of the same Fearne Jonathan Cardona having been indicated as the man selling passports to Russian oligarchs while Carmen Ciantar’s daughter is accused of having received 3.2 million euros from a Russian oligarch in 2019 it is apt to remind the readers of another corrupt scandal in which Fearne’s name showed up and how it is relevant up to this day.
It was back in 2018 when we get to know that Carmen Sammut was recruited as Fearne’s chief of staff in his private secretariat. Her recruitment had raised eyebrows among government quarters “particularly because of possible conflict of interest in the provision of current and future IT services to the ministry or entities falling under” the health ministry umbrella. After she served as a director Sammut was the sole shareholder of several commercial companies including Mall Systems Ltd an IT company which provided services at Mater Dei Hospital the Health Ministry and its various entities that fall under Fearne’s political remit since Labour returned to power in 2013.
“Most of the government’s procurement from the IT company was done through direct orders without any competitive call for tenders.” “According to the latest information published in The Malta Government Gazette last May while Ms Sammut was serving as Mr Fearne’s aide Mall Systems Ltd was given another direct order by the Health Ministry for ‘on-site maintenance and support for iSTK and Bi Stock Control system’. “The company was to receive €119 000 for this service between June and November 2019.”
But during the rivalry campaign between Fearne and Abela with Fearne being in a good position to replace Joseph Muscat at the helm of government Fearne in another episode of lies lies and more lies had stated that his chief of staff does not have a conflict of interest over her commercial links. Then when Fearne needs a break from telling lies until he recovers to start telling them again he sends a spokesman who had also dismissed the fact that Sammut’s company was receiving lucrative direct orders from Fearne. This was in December 2019.
Fast forward to a month later January 2020 and Fearne’s lies are proven to be lies when in comments on TVM’s Xtra he is on record saying that “he had asked a person who was close to him to move aside because a potential conflict of interest involving her husband had been flagged.” Albeit he was his usual devious self to not say explicitly the name this person was his chief of staff Carmen Sammut.
This was confirmed in his reply when he was contacted by The Times where we get another episode of his big fat lies when he stated that in order to emphasise that ‘not only is good governance ensured but is seen to be ensured’ Ms Sammut had resigned her post early in December.” What good governance is he talking about? Is it about the good governance of the state of nirvana and utopia of his stagnant imagination in the way his ministry is involved in one scandal after the next with Fearne’s questionable dealings?
But saintly Fearne had dismissed the fact that Sammut may have a conflict of interest over her commercial links because she had transferred shares to her husband who coincidentally happened to be another director of another IT company which coincidentally happened to be both registered at the same address of Cursor Limited.
Who is her husband? Mark Sammut. Who is Mark Sammut? He is the former director and chief officer at Transport Malta who was also an IT consultant to former PN cabinet minister John Dalli. He is the same individual who through his IT companies he and his wife were paid hundreds of thousands since 2013 through IT contracts by the Health and Transport Ministries. He is the same individual who gave his services through his private companies to Transport Malta while serving as a member of the board of directors in 2014. He is the same individual who was appointed as Chief Officer at the same regulator without a public call after resigning.
He is the same individual who was appointed PBS Chairman by Robert Abela with absolutely no experience in broadcasting or journalism. He is the same PBS Chairman who was given a “hefty government direct order” of €136 000 from the Lands Authority without competition under Lands Minister Silvio Schembri. He is the same individual who coincidentally also happened to be a government-appointed director of Malta Air Travel Ltd.
He is the same person of whom The Shift and this site had written about when documents obtained by The Shift through the Freedom of Information Act it was shown that “Sammut is receiving two separate salaries for the same job – one for his role as executive chairman and another for chairing the board of directors” while simultaneously still “receiving direct orders from the Health Ministry through his personal business” by the chieftain Fearne.
Aħdem u stinka u għereq l-għaraq tad-demm poplu li taqlagħha u tikolha! Mur oqgħod ifraħ ghax itik żieda miżera mal-paga li ilha mwaħħla b’kolla li bilkemm taqlagħha! Mur ċapċap fil-mass meetings lill-gvern tal-ħaddiema f’Jum il-Ħaddiem la kulħadd jitħanzer fid-dinja fejn xi ħnieżer huma iktar indaqs minnek poplu!
The Maltese nation must feel such a zen aura surrounding it to know that working at government institutions comes with a lot of perks for the very limited few. But working at Palazzo Castellania comes with a lot of perks for those few who coincidentally always revolve around the same families: the Fearne family the Sammut family and the Ciantar family in a world where all animals are equal but the pigs are more equal than others.
