Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1492490
TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 12 FEBRUARY 2023 • ISSUE 1216 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday BUYING AND SELLING AT THE SAME TIME? Benefit from a €500 cashback, a free EPC Certificate, 50% off your home insurance & thousands in savings to finish and furnish your home. franksalt.com.mt/buyandsell * *T&C's Apply PAGES 8-9 God might have a funny way of telling the world everything's in control COMMENT MT2 RAPHAEL VASSALLO €1.95 Millions paid out in court experts as inquiries see no closure PAGE 6 The cost of expertise At the lower end... MULTIPLE explosions occurred inside a Mosta Technopark fac- tory that produces Ultraviolet lamps, but luckily no one was in- jured. Two loud blasts were heard in quick succession around Naxx- ar and Mosta at around 10:45am. The blast occurred after a chemi- cal reaction inside the gas pipes at the factory. All the workers were evacuated safely and the blast did not cause any fires in the factory. MATTHEW VELLA THE opaque ownership of Steward International, the con- cessionaire of three Maltese hospitals, has been called into question by an investigative fi- nancial research group from Delaware. Viceroy Research called out Steward Systems, the American healthcare providers, and Med- ical Properties Trust, who rent out hospital real estate to Stew- ard, over a convoluted own- ership structure they believe serves to distance them as much as possible from the alleged cor- ruption and fraud that could have taken place in the Maltese hospital concession of 2015. Steward is awaiting the out- come of a court case filed in Malta by the Nationalist MP Adrian Delia, which could force the rescission of the controver- sial privatisation deal. But since 2020, the ownership of the Maltese concession has criss-crossed Europe, from Mal- ta to London, and now Spain, in a company called Steward Inter- national that officially, no longer belongs to Steward Systems, but to Steward International's CEO Ralph de la Torre. Viceroy, short sellers that in- vestigate financial wrongdoing, argue that Steward Internation- al is ultimately traceable to the same offices of Steward Systems, and that Medical Properties Trust has inflated the asset val- ue of Steward International. Opaque Steward ownership distances Americans from Malta fall-out Chemical reaction at Technopark cause of loud explosions MaltaToday Survey Criminality and justice are topmost cause for worry for first time ever 12-13 Crime tops country's major concerns for first time ever 'Justice and criminality' topped the list with 27.6% of all voters f lagging the issues as their principle worry, a concern that is now in the top five for all age groups, across all regions and irrespective of political allegiance The scene of the crime in Gzira where innocent bystander Pelin Kaya was murdered by driver Jeremie Camilleri, believed to have been high on cocaine COVID shock led to higher influx of lower-paid workers PAGES 10-11