PN’s David Thake stirs rumour of affair, then goes back upon minister’s denial

PN candidate David Thake is insisting that he was only asking “for a clarification” when he suggested that the relationship between Health Minister Chris Fearne and FMS CEO Carmen Ciantar was more than just work.

Thake, who is back on Radio 101 with his ‘Taghna Lkoll ma’ David Thake’, yesterday suggested that Fearne and the chief executive officer of the Foundations for Medical Services were having an affair.

The Minister was yesterday forced to issue a denial, arguing that the allegations only mirrored Thake’s belief that a woman can only hold a high position if she’s engaged in a “non-professional relationship”. The Ministry for Health said that Ciantar’s salary was equal to her predecessor’s.

“Failure to find anything else to attack, the Nationalist Opposition resorted to mudslinging.”

Ciantar also denied the allegations, adding that she was reserving her right to sue Thake for libel.

Subsequently, Thake issued the following statements on Facebook: “Yesterday, during Taghna lkoll ma' David Thake I asked Minister Fearne to issue a statement of clarification regarding rumours and reports that I had been receiving.

“I have taken note of the statement issued by Minister Chris Fearne and Ms. Carmen Ciantar wherein they affirm that the relationship between them is strictly professional. I welcome this statement and will read it out in full during today's edition of Taghna Lkoll.”