Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1429136
16 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 NOVEMBER 2021 ACROSS 1) Hardly worth millions 5) Type of warming 11) Something fishy 14) Bullets and bombs, briefly 15) Oxygen-dependent bacte- rium 16) Web address 17) Creat ing a ruckus 19) Bell and Kettle, e.g. 20) Sets of rabbit ears 21) Baby-bottle feature 23) Serena, to Venus 24) ___ Aviv 25) Maine tree 26) Air Force One is one 27) Snip 28) Nostril 32) French love 35) Delhi dress 36) Carpe ___ 37) Be unacquainted with 40) Canvas bag 41) Shopping center? 42) Armed adversary 43) Unpleasant person 44) Speaker systems, briefly 45) No longer active, in the mil. 46) Air freshener's target 48) Gross minus expenses 49) Three-time Frazier foe 52) Dangerous compound in Agent Orange 55) Like dachshunds 57) Motel relative 58) Last day on the calendar 60) Catchall abbreviation 6 l) Bent and twisted, as a tree 62) Black American cuckoos 63) It gets socked 64) It can cause burnout 65) Gasp for air, like a dog DOWN 1) "Legal" and "medic" begin- nings 2) One from Muscat 3) Leaves out on purpose 4) Valentine's Day flower 5) Fish-eating sea bird 6) Within the law 7) "The Lord of the Rings" army members 8) Constrictor 9) From the beginning, in Latin 10) Russian revolutionary leader 11) Beef cut 12) Spoken aloud 13) "May I get you anything ___?" 18) Apprentice 22) Necklace type 25) Cat sounds 26) Singles player of old 27) Sidewalk eateries 29) White House gofer 30) Five hundred sheets of paper 31) Award for TV programming 32) Tiny colonisers 33) Apollo destination 34) Preminger or Bismarck 35) Vow 38) Foe 39) Greeter's partner 45) Makes restitution 47) Car blemishes 48) Winter songs 49) Football variety 50) "Rosemary's Baby" author 51) i.e., for long 52) Popular New Year's resolu- tion 53) "__ each life, some rain __" 54) "Measure twice, cut ___" 55) Harp's old cousin 56) "Quickly!" acronym 59) Major conflict Solution to last week's crossword The answers to today's crossword will be published in next week's Midweek edition Weather Partly cloudy Visibility Good Wind South Southeast F5 to F6 veering West Southwest F3 Sea Moderate becoming slight to moderate TODAY TOMORROW Crossword WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY PARTLY CLOUDY 22 0 / 16 0 21 0 / 15 0 FEELS LIKE 22 0 FEELS LIKE 21 0 MATTHEW AGIUS A Maltese court has been told that Steward Healthcare admit- ted in a UK court that Ambrish Gupta, an early investor in the formerly 'Vitals' hospital privati- sation concession, was involved in irregular and collusive practice with the Muscat administration. Mr Justice Francesco Depas- quale presided another sitting in the case filed by former PN leader Adrian Delia in which he is seek- ing the recission of the contract between government and Vitals Global Healthcare, now Steward. Steward has since also filed a case against investors Medical Associates of North Virginia Inc, in which the healthcare compa- ny alleges that MANV investor Ambrish Gupta was involved in irregular and collusive practises with regards to the agreement with the government of Malta. "It is essential that this court has before it a copy of these acts, as not only in article 16 of the ap- plication is there a reference to this, but also because in other articles of the same application, among them article 18, where the defendants Steward say that in 2017, when barely a year had passed since the granting of the concession, it was clear that the companies were in difficulty in delivering …under the conces- sion and were in a precarious fi- nancial situation," Delia's lawyer Edward Debono said. The hospitals' concession had had a deleterious effect on health- care in Malta, the lawyer stressed. "It is imperative that these acts, as declared by Steward themselves are brought to the attention of this court as part of the acts of this case. The proof desired by the plaintiff was provided by the defendants themselves." Lawyer Joseph Camilleri, for Steward, did not object that a copy of the application referred to, but pointed out that the state- ments mentioned were "built on what came out in public in a report by the National Audit Of- fice, which is also public." The lawyer said the only evi- dence gathered in those proceed- ings that didn't emerge from the Maltese proceedings "in truth were only an English lawyer's af- fidavit." Debono, quoting from para- graph 26 of the application, added that "it resulted that the conces- sion was originally given as a direct consequence of the fraudulent actions of its investors, including Gupta, in the healthcare project and this in breach of the regula- tions on public procurement." The court upheld Delia's request and authorised him to present the application filed before the British courts. On its part, Stew- ard declared its evidence closed, while Malta Industrial Parks – now Indis Malta – will present affidavits. The next sitting will be for the court to hear testimony by the Lands Authority and Indus- trial parks. Delia objected to the date of the next sitting – in December – saying that "the time in between every sitting is costing the coun- try over €6 million." Mr Justice Depasquale noted that the plaintiff had closed his evidence in June and ordered the Lands Authority and Indis Malta to exhibit all of their documen- tary evidence by the next sitting, and indicate whether they have witnesses to testify or not. State advocate Christopher Sol- er and lawyer Andrew Cauchi appeared for the government. Lawyer Eliana Scicluna appeared for Indis. Lawyer Joseph Camill- eri appeared for Steward. Lawyer Maronia Magri for the Lands Au- thority. Steward claim of investor's collusion on Vitals deal gleaned from NAO report Nationalist MP Adrian Delia entering court to continue the civil case he initiated to have the hospitals concession agreement rescinded (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)