Carmen Ciantar, the former CEO of the Foundation for Medical Services has gone to the police demanding answers as to who organised and funded a smear campaign which forced her suspension from the foundation in June last year.
Ciantar suspended herself hours after corruption claims surfaced in the Pakistani media. She vigorously defended her integrity and Malta police later said they found no evidence to back the claims.
Earlier this week Times of Malta and The Boston Globe revealed that former health minister Chris Fearne and Ciantar, who had also served as his chief of staff, were targeted by a smear campaign funded by Steward, the American company which took over the Vitals hospitals contract.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ciantar said the impact of the fabricated media story had been "devastating" on both her life and her daughter’s, both professionally and personally.
"The painfully frustrating part was that I had no means of redress. The Pakistani editor of the website running this fake story could not be traced by my legal team and other experts. Neither could we get to who financed this evil plot," she wrote.
"My daughter and I were collateral damage in a political frame-up perpetrated by dark forces targeting the minister responsible for FMS, Chris Fearne. Facing these heinous public lies without knowing who is behind them and financing them has been unbearable."
She said that given she was in a public post, that fake story created trust issues, especially with stakeholders, government colleagues and members of staff. Equally her daughter, a dentist by profession, lost a number of clients.
"Thankfully, our name was fully cleared pretty quickly by the police and the magistrate and so trust was restored, at least with those of good will and who distinguish fact from fiction," she added.
"On a personal note, my daughter and I, along with my family including my elderly parents, suffered tremendously."
My daughter and I were collateral damage in a political frame said Carmen Ciantar (above).Following the new revelations, she said she had called on the police commissioner for a second time.
"That this was a frame-up is a fact. Now we need to know who perpetrated it and who financed it. Quite simply, who are the dark forces who did all this, to me and my daughter, to FMS, to the Ministry and to this country?
"Once these questions are answered, we shall have no hesitation to explore lawsuits for damages," she said.