Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1273535
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 29 JULY 2020 NEWS A 70-year-old woman from Zabbar has died after finding herself in difficulty while swimming in St Thomas Bay, Marsascala. The incident occurred in the area known as il-Fajtata. Police were called onsite after receiving a report that a person needed their help. Upon their arrival, the AFM helicopter was called in to assist the woman. The woman was brought to shore, but first aid ef- forts proved futile and the woman died moments later. Police investigations are ongoing. Magistrate Josette Demicoli has instructed several experts to assist her. A 60-year-old man has died after crashing into a wall in Rabat, Gozo. Police said that around 2:20 pm, their assistance was needed after a car had crashed into a wall in Triq is-Sellum, Rabat. Preliminary investigations revealed that the 60-year-old man, who resides in Xaghra, Gozo, had crashed his Honda Fit, into a wall. A medical team was called onsite, but the man was certified dead on site. Duty magistrate Simone Grech has launched an inquiry into the incident and has instructed several experts to assist her. Police investigations are ongoing. 70-year-old swimmer dies after finding herself in difficulty at St Thomas Bay 60-year-old dies in Gozo car crash KURT SANSONE CRITICAL risks flagged by Malta Enterprise in a due diligence of inves- tors that eventually obtained a con- cession to run three public hospitals were ignored by the government. The damning information emerges from a fresh probe by the Nation- al Audit Office on the Vitals Global Healthcare hospitals deal. The latest 19-page addendum to the original report concerns a mem- orandum of understanding that economy minister Chris Cardona had signed with foreign investors in October 2014, five months before the government eventually issued an international request for proposals. The addendum was tabled in par- liament on Tuesday afternoon. Cardona told the NAO that a due diligence exercise that Malta Enter- prise had undertaken with respect to the investors, had a negative out- come, which led the agency to re- voke the MOU. Cardona also told the NAO that he was not privy to the basis of the negative outcome, adding this was confidential information that Mal- ta Enterprise was prohibited from disclosing under the Business Pro- motion Act, unless otherwise in- structed by the Prime Minister or by Court order. "Despite the lack of visibility af- forded to this Office regarding the nature of the negative outcome of the due diligence, the NAO's con- cerns emerge when one considers that, irrespective of the critical risks flagged, government opted to per- sist in negotiations with investors that, for the most part, remained unchanged when bidding in reply to the request for proposal," the NAO said. Keith Schembri and OPM But significantly, Cardona's testi- mony shifts the onus of responsibili- ty for the hospitals deal onto the Of- fice of the Prime Minister and Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff for Joseph Muscat. Attempts by the NAO to source information from Schembri proved futile and the OPM did not retain records in relation to the MOU. "Enquiries with the former chief of staff OPM [Keith Schembri] proved to no avail and therefore this office was unable to determine how con- tact between government and the investors was established and how negotiations between the two par- ties ensued… Despite the NAO's efforts at deciphering the active role played by the OPM, this remains ob- scure," the NAO said. Cardona told the NAO he was re- quested to sign the MOU on behalf of government but his ministry had no involvement in the identification of the hospitals concession project, the investors and the feasibility of the venture. The former minister said the MOU was signed at the Office of the Prime Minister. The MOU is dated 10 October 2014 and extended to February 2015 after which it would expire unless extended or both parties finalised a deal. Malta Enterprise was tasked to carry out a due diligence of the in- vestors and its involvement in the MOU was only to ensure that the construction of a medical school in Gozo was in line with what the agency had agreed with Bart's Med- ical School. The government issued an inter- national request for proposals in March 2015 on the basis of a pro- posal that was similar to that out- lined in the MOU. The process was handled by Projects Malta, an agen- cy under Konrad Mizzi's wing. The tender was eventually award- ed to VGH, which comprised the in- vestors that originally appeared on the MOU. Public procurement process to give concession semblance of regularity The MOU was not provided to the NAO by government in its original investigation on the VGH tender award, which was tabled in parlia- ment earlier this month. The MOU was eventually passed on to the NAO after Prime Minister Robert Abela ordered it to be found. The NAO had concluded that the VGH hospitals concession agree- ment was a done deal, even on the strength of the MOU that govern- ment had entered into with some of the investors. In its fresh report, the NAO ex- pressed "grave concerns" on the design of the RFP, more so after re- viewing the MOU. "The review of the MOU and the clear links that emerge between this and the RFP, render the likelihood that the RFP was designed with a pre-determined outcome in mind all the more probable. In the NAO's opinion, the public procurement process was undertaken to lend the award of the concession a semblance of regularity and propriety when in fact the outcome of the process was a given," the NAO concluded, reaf- firming its original findings. Due diligence exercise on Vitals had negative outcome Keith Schembri, former Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, could not be reached by the NAO Triq is-Sellum, Rabat, Gozo