Carmen Ciantar returns to FMS as CEO: ‘Truth and integrity cannot be vanquished’

Carmen Ciantar has withdrawn her self-suspension and will return back to the Foundation of Medical Services as CEO.

In a statement on Monday, Ciantar said that “truth and integrity cannot be vanquished” while thanking her daughter, family, friends and colleagues for standing by her.

Ciantar tendered her suspension last May after a Pakistani news portal reported that she received bribes from a company linked to Vitals Global Healthcare.

She had flatly refuted the allegations, and said she will use all measures available at law to defend her reputation and integrity.

Health Minister Chris Fearne had accepted her suspension and urged police to investigate the bribery allegations.

READ ALSO: Carmen Ciantar’s bribery allegations: Where are they coming from?

Ciantar went on to file a legal request to testify in front of the inquiring magistrate probing corruption allegations in connection to the hospitals concession awarded to Vitals Global Healthcare and later Steward Healthcare.

The bribery reports against Ciantar raised eyebrows as they were appearing almost exclusively in Pakistani media, with several websites publishing the same exact news article word-for-word.

The stories were reported on Daily Pakistan, Samaa English TV, The Pakistan Daily, Global Village Space, Dunya News and Pakistan Observer.

An unnamed international public relations company had been trying, through intermediaries, to offer the Ciantar story to Maltese media organisations. The effort failed since the claims could not be substantiated.