Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1206972
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2020 NEWS DAVID HUDSON THE Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has accused former prime minister Joseph Muscat of 'premeditated theft' over millions spent by the Maltese government to finance its management obli- gations for the three state hospi- tals being run by Steward Health- care International. In a press conference, Delia revealed a procurement evalua- tion report which he claims was drawn up to pass on three state hospitals to a private operator – at the time Vitals Global Health- care – simply for the purpose of profit. Delia said the procurement evaluation report was kept hid- den by the Maltese government and only submitted in court by the evaluation board's chairman James Camenzuli as part of a court case in the Vitals PPP filed by Delia. "The government has kept this document hidden so as to hide its own premeditated theft… I have already said this: this was a plan to earn millions from a premedi- tated failure," Delia said. The board of evaluation includ- ed one of the Nexia BT partners, Manuel Castagna, who have as- sisted as auditors to former chief- of-staff Keith Schembri. "I have no doubt these people were in full complicity with the Maltese gov- ernment in the theft of taxpayers' money," Delia said. Since 2015, the spend on the three hospitals increased by close to €100 million. "We now know Joseph Muscat is lobbying on behalf of the out- sider here [Steward]… if you see the poor verification carried out of this management agreement, it is scandalous. Everyone associat- ed with this contract has to take responsibility for this." Delia said he will demand expla- nations as to why taxpayers were being robbed of their money to pay "outsiders who are not giving us any service for what they are paid." 'Robert Abela must make a deci- sion immediately' Delia said that Prime Minister Robert Abela "needs to make a decision immediately" with re- gards to ministers, including Fi- nance Minister Edward Scicluna, in light of the procurement and evaluation report published by the party. Delia said that he was disap- pointed that Abela hadn't yet made a decision and presumed that the Prime Minister knew about the contract beforehand. "I am very surprised that Robert Abela is yet to make a decision in light of all of this. Hopefully, he doesn't say that he was unaware of this agreement because that would be an act of irresponsibil- ity like never before. I am pre- suming that he knew about it, so he should have taken a decision earlier," he said. Asked by MaltaToday wheth- er Abela's position was untena- ble either way, Delia did not re- spond and instead said that it was shocking that business consult- ants Nexia BT were once again involved in the procurement pro- cess. "It's unbelievable that we paid Vitals €180 million from the get go and then kept paying them millions per year, another €20 million in 2016, €40 million in 2017, another €40 million in 2018 and €50 million in 2019. And Joseph Muscat approached Abela to tell him that we need to keep paying them. For what? They took our money, proper- ty and gave nothing back," Delia said, adding that in a public-pri- vate partnership, the private bid- der should also enter into a risk, something that was not done in this particular case. Delia insisted that he had taken the government to court over the Vitals deal back in 2018 to return the hospitals back to state own- ership. He said that the case was now at the stage where he was summoning witnesses to testify for new information to come out regarding the concessions deal. Asked how he could explain his bad showing in the polls, Delia said that his job as an Opposition Leader was to safeguard the in- terests of the people. "Our point here is to safeguard the interest of our nation, then it's up to the people to vote. After the electorate sees the reactions of this government to this reve- lation, it will then decide who to trust." Delia accuses Muscat of 'premeditated theft' in Vitals hospital contract THE St Julian's local council and 11 NGOs are urging the Planning Authority to unequivocally re- ject the application for a private jetty in Balluta Bay that aims to serve as a hop-on-hop-off tourist service run by the Fortina hotel owners. The application will be decided tomorrow at 9.30am. In Novem- ber of last year, residents, NGOs and Sliema and St Julian's local council representatives partici- pated in a protest action at Bal- luta. The St Julian's local council wrote to the Lands Authority, objecting to any concession by the authority of the seabed and the sea. It stated that the sea and the foreshore are designated as public domains according to the civil code and are consequently subject to the obligations of hav- ing them preserved both in sub- stance and form. "Should this application be accepted by the planning com- mission, Balluta Bay would be transformed into a berthing place for Fortina's private ferry. This private activity would dominate and pollute this small and impor- tant bay as well as pose a constant danger to bathers and swimmers. Balluta Bay would thus suffer the same fate as the Ferries in Sliema, where this same company took over the largest part of the shore for its private ferries," the NGOs said in a statement yesterday. The hop-on-hop-off service will eventually include a route along the coast and different berthing spots but the application that will be discussed on Monday con- cerns only one berthing spot at Balluta Bay. The NGOs said that, for this reason, "it is impossible to assess the project's impacts holis- tically." The NGOs also criticised the case officer for recommending such an application for approval on the basis that it encourages transport by ferry boat as an al- ternative mode of transport. "This ferry is most obviously not an alternative means of transport since it is neither a public form of transportation nor will it shift any commuting from the land to the sea. It is simply a private ferry that provides an additional ser- vice to tourists from which only Fortina will profit," the NGOs said, adding that such a project would constitute the takeover of private interests over public ones. The participating NGOs are: Archaeological Society of Malta, Attard Residents Environment Network (AREN), Bicycle Ad- vocacy Group, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, Fu- tur Ambjent Wieħed, Isles of the Left, Moviment Graffitti, Nature Trust Malta and Ramblers' Mal- ta. Waterpolo club condemns 'mis- information campaign' The St Julian's Aquatic Sports Club yesterday accused the NGOs' "misinformation cam- paign" of sabotaging the applica- tion for the Balluta private jetty. It said the application is for a temporary and removable jetty adjacent to the waterpolo pitch, that would bring funding towards the club. "The jetty will not be for the ex- clusive use of a private company and certainly no berthing will be permitted. It can only be used as a pick-up and drop-off point," club president Peter Bonavia said. Bonavia said Fortina would be using brand new vessels compli- ant with emission and environ- mental standards. "If objectors are so concerned about pollution in the bay, why don't they seek to address the real problem caused by dozens of other boats that give our children infections every summer?" he asked. The club claims the revenue gained through the use of the jetty will be used to upgrade its nursery. NGOs, councils rally against Balluta jetty Left to right: lawyer Edward Debono, PN leader Adrian Delia, and Nationalist MPs Jason Azzopardi and Fatima Deguara