Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1437264
5 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 DECEMBER 2021 Ġieħ l-Artiġjanat Malti Applications are open for the Ġieħ l-Artiġjanat Malti Award for the year 2021-2022. This edition aims to: • Award excellence in design, innovation and custom manufacturing • Inspire collaborations leading to innovative products and initiatives • Recognise persons providing a valid contribution to the sector Download the regulations and the application forms from the Malta Crafts Foundation Facebook page. An Information Session will be held on the 10th of January 2022 at 14:00h. Register, or obtain more information, by sending an email on info@maltacrafts.org. Submission deadline is the 25th of February 2022. MATTHEW VELLA DISGRACED former minister Konrad Mizzi did not deign to meet the National Audit Office to defend his role in the contro- versial privatisation of three state hospitals which he presided over. In a show of utter disregard for the NAO's verification process of the multi-million Vitals Global Healthcare concession, Mizzi re- fused to appear before the NAO to discuss his pivotal role in the concession. Mizzi was health minister when negotiations with the VGH com- menced; was a member of the Steering Committee tasked with overseeing the concession; and was the signatory representing government on all contracts en- tered into with the VGH "Mizzi's failure to attend to the several requests made by the NAO constituted a serious failure on his part in terms of the level of accountability expected of a for- mer minister of government and in terms of the standard of good governance that ought to have characterised a project as materi- al and as important to the nation- al health services as was this." In an uncompromising excori- ation of the contract, the NAO said the failures of Labour's pri- vatisation of the state hospitals were down to the selection of VGH as the concessionaire, "a poor choice that set the stage for what was to come." "The negotiations that quickly followed selection were similarly flawed, conditioned to an extent by the structural anomalies and organisation of the Ministry for Energy and Health and the gen- eral ill-preparedness in terms of what was sought by government through this concession." The defunct Vitals Global Healthcare achieved none of its milestones when it took control of three state hospitals in a con- troversial, multi-million privati- sation deal. The NAO report found that the unknown investors in VGH, led by Canadian boss Ram Tumu- luri, was unable to secure financ- ing and this became the crucial shortcoming on which all subse- quent failures followed. "All VGH's commitments re- garding the envisaged improve- ments to infrastructure and ser- vices were rendered unattainable in view of this failure." But the NAO said it was the La- bour government's acquiescence to these evident inadequacies that also mirrored VGH's fail- ures. "Instead, the government's representatives, while bypassing Cabinet, endorsed multiple waiv- ers of the requirement to secure financing, thereby perpetuating the failure that this concession came to represent." The NAO said the negotiations between the Muscat administtra- tion and Vitals remained opaque- ly concealed to the auditors, due to a lack of documentation kept and conflicting accounts. The NAO found deviations and other inclusions in the con- tracts that changed the scope of the concession, and altered the risk for the Maltese government, as well as the profitability of the project. "Graver still was the govern- ment's failure to consult with crit- ical stakeholders. This omission resulted in the concession failing to meet its intended objectives, be it the health-related improve- ments originally envisaged and the classification of the concession as off-balance sheet, which failure implied that the VGH's capital expenditure on the project was registered on the government's accounts," the NAO said. The NAO said the Labour ad- ministration quickly revised VGH's deliverables, in a way that was "consistently adverse to government, with a significant reduction in services without any change in the compensation due." Most glaring was a mismatch of labour resources allocated to the VGH by the government with the charge that was to be recovered. The discrepancy arising from this mismatch was borne by the gov- ernment. Mizzi could not face NAO as damning report details extent of Vitals fiasco Disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi