Marlene Attard and Stephen McCarthy join company’s C-Suite
Malita Investments has appointed a new CEO and CFO, months after its executive chairman resigned under a cloud of controversy.
Marlene Attard will lead the public company as Chief Executive Officer while Stephen McCarthy will serve as its Chief Financial Officer, the company said in a statement to the market on Saturday. The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Amanda Desira, will remain in her role.
The company’s chairman Marvin Gaerty, who was appointed late last year, will now transition from an executive role to a non-executive one.
Attard previously served as Group Chief Operations Officer at RS2 plc and also spent several years at the Planning Authority, where she served as a head of secretariat and director of corporate services.
As Malita’s Chief Executive Officer, she will be responsible for the company’s overall strategic direction and day-to-day management, implementing the company’s business strategy, overseeing its property portfolio and delivering an Affordable Housing Project on the cards.
McCarthy is a qualified accountant with extensive experience in the financial services sector. He previously served as CEO of both the Malta Digital Innovation Authority and Housing Authority.
In his new role as Malita CFO, he will be responsible for the company’s financial strategy, planning and reporting, including overseeing all financial operations, managing its financial risks, ensuring compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements, and managing relationships with financial institutions and investors.
Malita Investments is a public company that is 80 per cent state-owned. Originally set up as a special purpose vehicle to help fund major public infrastructure projects, in more recent years its focus has narrowed more specifically onto social housing projects.
The company risked going off the rails over the past 18 months after massive cost overruns and delays on a massive social housing project in Luqa – which it obtained millions in EU funding for – left it illiquid. Various contractors involved in that project have since filed court action, claiming they are owed millions for works carried out in Luqa.
Concurrently, the company’s former chair Marlene Mizzi accused Housing Minister Roderick Galdes of trying to meddle in the firm and “hobnobbing” with contractors engaged by Malita.
Both Galdes and Malita denied the allegations. That same week, the company’s Executive Chairperson Johan Farrugia resigned and was replaced by Gaerty.
It was one of a string of resignations at the company: Malita’s former CEO had quit in December 2024, its CFO resigned the following April and its board secretary stepped aside last month.
Malita said in December that it would be leaning on banks to provide the additional capital needed to finalise the Luqa project.
