Arts Council chairman Albert Marshall put aside established selection procedures for a major cultural appointment to usher his preferred candidate to the post, the Times of Malta has learnt.

Multiple sources said Mr Marshall overruled the decision of an international jury panel tasked with picking Malta’s curators for the Venice Biennale, the most prestigious contemporary arts exhibition in the world, and instead appointed a new panel, which selected the candidates he had preferred.

READ: 'Everything was manipulated': How a Biennale panel left artists concerned

Mr Marshall denied any irregularities and said the jury had been divided over the merit of different proposals and that “artistic concerns raised during the first evaluation… were sufficiently serious to warrant a fresh outlook on the matter”.

The chosen curators will have access to €150,000 in public funding and will be responsible for selecting the artists to be showcased at the Maltese national pavilion at the Biennale. The sources, who asked not to be named for fear of professional repercussions, said the panel objected to having their professional judgement undermined and felt Mr Marshall was seeking an excuse to prompt a reassessment by any means.

“Everything was manipulated. They wanted one particular project to win and they found a way to make sure it did,” said one source with knowledge of the process.

While the first panel was made up of three well-established figures in contemporary art, the second featured the artistic directors of three State-funded cultural bodies, none of whom specialise in that particular field.

Panel members, curators and artists – including several high-profile international figures – are understood to be baffled and frustrated by how the process played out, warning of long-term damage to Malta’s artistic reputation.

“We were there just to legitimise a process that was in no way legitimate,” one said.