Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1245222
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MAY 2020 INTERVIEW So far, however, you haven't given any indication of what the Opposition is actually propos- ing itself. If you had the reins of power in your hands… what would you do? What I'm already doing right now. I will continue to meet representatives of all the sectors – because there isn't a 'one-size- fits-all' solution – to begin to un- derstand what the 'transforma- tion agents', in their respective sectors, really are. And to hear their ideas: because there are people out there who, if they know that there is a plan, are ready to make sacrifices… but government has to invest in these people, and in these com- panies. But isn't it all about money, in the end? No. It's all about ideas. It's all about having a vision to be able to change your own destiny… What I'm asking specifically, though, is: would you give out direct financial assistance to all the sectors that are current- ly not receiving anything from government? Yes, but not only that… there doesn't have to be only one form of assistance. There's no point in offering to financially assist a company for only a month, for instance. What about the follow- ing month? So what I'd tell these compa- nies myself is: what areas do you need to invest in most? For instance, it could be digital tech- nology, teleworking, etc. What sort of capital do they need? I [as government] would lend them the money myself, at 1% interest. And I would offer other incen- tives: for instance, if a company is able to employ people working from home, government could support one employee out of every five. The most obvious example, however, remains utility bills, which people currently can't af- ford to pay. Why does the gov- ernment refuse to reduce the water and electricity tariffs? Why did it first say: "It's not up to me… but up to the Chinese"… but then it changed that to: "No, actually we do have a say…" Not only do we have a 'say', but we also have the means to do it. We are currently saving €96 mil- lion [on the cost of energy pro- duction]… so we have the capac- ity to either reduce bills for 50% for eight months… or by 100% for four whole months. But the government has dug its heels – either that, or it is simply powerless – because others are getting those €96 million… not Maltese families. Turning to the hospitals issue: the Opposition recently present- ed a motion to cancel the Stew- ard Health Care contract, and invited government MPs to vote against their party line… despite the fact that the contract entails a penalty clause of 100 million. Did you have enough fire-pow- er to make such a demand from government MPs? Let's clarify the situation first. This issue started in 2015. In re- ality it started even earlier; but we didn't know at the time, be- cause a company [Vitals Global Healthcare] that had only just been registered was given – on its second day of operations – a Memorandum of Understand- ing with the government, despite the fact that the call for tenders hadn't even been issued yet. So it was already operating, and collecting funds, to apply for a tender before it was even made public. This is the 'justice' we are talking about here. The contract itself was signed in November 2015. As a result, the company was given three hospitals, which they were sup- posed to invest in… and yet they had absolutely no experience in the sector. They had no hospi- tals, no clinics, no pharmacies… and yet, strangely enough, out of all the companies around the world that are capable of man- aging hospitals, the government saw fit to choose this one. So who were these people? They were fraudsters. Fraud- sters. The CEO, Ram Tumuluri, was facing fraud allegations in various countries. Let's just say he's a colourful character. But the point is this: if this deal was suc- cessful, Tumuluri was supposed to get 6 million. But in reality, the deal failed. These people had no idea how to run hospitals, and the company went bankrupt. What was government's reac- tion? It should have told them: 'Listen: we were going to give you 2 billion euros (over 30 years)… but you proved to be incapable, so pack your bags and leave. And if you ever come back to our country, you'll have to pay back every cent you took." And then, government should have acted to ensure that this sort of thing never happens again. But instead, they told them: "You're not capable of running these hospitals… so can you find someone else who is?" And that is how Steward Health Care came into the picture. And once again, the new company was in financial difficulties. So again, they were supposed to invest €180 million… but they invested nothing. It's not just me saying this, by the way: if you go to Gozo, you will see that they never built a hospital with 450 beds; and St Luke's remains dilapidated to this day. These were supposed to become state of the art hospi- tals; but they did nothing - and we started giving them money: €50 million a year, €60 million, €70 million… while they gave us nothing in return. But what about the €100 million penalty clause? You're right to ask about that. Two years later – at a time when government knew that I had opened a court-case; it knew that the company was bankrupt, and that no work had been carried out on any local hospital…. What did it to? It told Steward: "If this contract is annulled by the law- courts… instead of paying the penalty yourselves, or giving back the money we gave you… we will give you a present of €100 million." What madness is this? Why did Robert Abela, who was a lawyer in the prime minister's office at the time, accept that the Maltese people will have to pay €100 mil- lion from their pockets to Stew- ard when they fail? These people are thieves. They robbed us. Yet instead of taking them to court, we are rewarding them with 100 million of taxpay- ers' money. This is not just corruption, not just illegality; this is immorality. corruption; this is immorality The people behind Steward Health Care are thieves. They robbed us. Yet instead of taking them to court, we are rewarding them with 100 million of taxpayers' money