Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1493176
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 FEBRUARY 2023 Healthcare Ltd and VGH Malta. Technoline Ian Vassallo mysteriously buys out his boss and purchases Technoline using a €5.14 million loan from Tumuluri and Shaukat Ali through their offshore companies in Jersey. 2017 January 3 January: Daphne Caruana Galizia reports that Ram Tumuluri gave doctors and nursing staff Zara vouchers and free drinks to 'buy' their support. June Ram Tumuluri and Mark Pawley sign a back-dated contract whereby they would both be paid a combined €1 million a year by Vitals in directors' fees Technoline Only three months after Vassallo took control of Technoline, VGH entrusted the company with the procurement of all its medical supplies in a done deal that they agreed to just 19 days after the takeover 23 June: Government and VGH enter into a second side letter to the Service Concession Agreement, with government extending the deadline for financing agreements to 31 December 2017. 1 July: Barts College on Gozo Campus. VGH failed to achieve this milestone by the specified date and until the concession was transferred to Steward Healthcare. Concession milestone September Vitals and Steward start talks to initiate a takeover December 21 December: News breaks that Vitals will be selling the Malta hospitals concession to Steward Healthcare. A week later, VGH requested approval from Malta Industrial Parks to transfer Bluestone Investments shares in VGH In the first months of 2018 Steward paid €3.2 million to VGH shareholders through Swiss firm Accutor AG as part of the takeover package 19 February: Former Opposition leader Adrian Delia files court case against government Vitals asking for the contract to be cancelled and for the three hospitals to be returned to the public. 2019 17 January: Joseph Muscat confirms that an €80 million buy-back clause exists in the Vitals agreement January Swiss firm Accutor AG as part of the takeover package 19 February: Former Opposition leader Adrian Delia files court case against government Vitals asking for the contract to be cancelled and for the three hospitals to be returned to the public. 31 May: Completion of new building at Gozo General Hospital 30 September: New Gozo General Hospital should have been up and running 31 December: Completion of St Luke's Hospital beds Concession milestone August New agreement is hammered out, as Konrad Mizzi gives Steward an 'escape clause' that turns any termination of the concession into a government default. 2019 2020 January Joseph Muscat lobbies for Robert Abela to renegotiate the Steward Hospitals deal Around the same time period, Muscat flies to Switzerland and visits the officers of Accutor, who collected money for VGH shareholders. He drafts up an indefinite contract with Spring X Media, which is linked to Accutor March Joseph Muscat receives €15,000 payment from Accutor June 7 June: Konrad Mizzi says Malta Enterprise signed the MoU with Vitals investors, not him. He also calls on government to publish the MoU after it went missing. July 14 July: Missing MoU found at Malta Enterprise Robert Abela endorses NAO report, pledges to take necessary action. He does not rule out rescinding contract. 3 July: Nexia BT boss admits no due diligence was carried out on Vitals before they were awarded the deal. September 2021 January 18 January: Joseph Muscat defends Vitals deal in court, says €100 million termination clause guaranteed bank loan without violating EU state-aid rules June Vitals in Court: Construction permits for jobs meant to be carried out by Vitals Global Healthcare on three Maltese hospitals had expired with works not even starting July 28 July: Steward freezes St Luke's masterplan as PM fails to deliver on pledge to amend tainted deal August Steward file unredacted copy of all project-related agreements and side letters in open court September 12 September: VGH law firm ordered to hand over client file to the police November 16 November: Judge Francesco Depasquale accepts Adrian Delia's request to include documents, which were described by Steward Healthcare as "fraudulent", in his case Ambrish Gupta, an early investor in the hospitals project, sues Steward Healthcare for $5 million in a London court initially owed to him by Vitals. November Minutes before resigning as minister, Konrad Mizzi testifies in court that government relied on recommendations from the evaluation board before entering into the privatisation deal 2022 7 February: Steward President Nadine Delicata admits that Vitals were handed huge amounts of tax money, describing the concession as 'ill-thought-out'. She says the concession was made worse by the fact that investors created a raft of companies, shifting assets between them and 19 January: Police raid former PM Joseph Muscat's Burmarrad property and Sa Maison office January February 26 January: Steward Healthcare refuse to pay €36.5 million tax bill to Inland Revenue Department June project-related agreements and side letters in open court September 12 September: VGH law firm ordered to hand over client file to the police November 16 November: Judge Francesco Depasquale accepts Adrian Delia's request to include documents, which were described by Steward Healthcare as "fraudulent", in his case 2022 7 February: Steward President Nadine Delicata admits that Vitals were handed huge amounts of tax money, describing the concession as 'ill-thought-out'. She says the concession was made worse by the fact that investors created a raft of companies, shifting assets between them and burning through funds. 2115 The additional 69-year term of the emphyteutical deed expires 19 January: Police raid former PM Joseph Muscat's Burmarrad property and Sa Maison office January February 2046 21 March: 30-year Emphyteutical Deed expires. Government can revert the title of the GGH and the KGRH in its favour subject to the payment of €80,000,000 to the VGH 26 January: Steward Healthcare refuse to pay €36.5 million tax bill to Inland Revenue Department 17 February: Steward Malta cedes case in which it was challenging the expectations of a €6 million pay-out to a former Vitals Global Healthcare investor June 24 July: Medical supplier and Technoline director Ivan Vassallo, who features in a corruption and money-laundering probe linked to the Vitals hospitals deal, files judicial protest against Vitals July 24 July: Reports reveal €21 million in government funds flowed into Vitals Global Healthcare Management, before being sent back to its Maltese parent company, Bluestone Investments between 2016 and first two months of 2018 31 July: Reports reveal interior design company 3City Design, run by Keith Schembri's wife Josette, received tens of thousands of euros in payments from Vitals and Steward in November 2017 August 30 August: Nurses' union slams Steward's €6 million profit, saying cash could have built new mental health hospital October 25 October: Adrian Delia's lawyer argues no due diligence was carried out on original concessionaire Vitals 2023 January 30 January: Steward Healthcare sued for €2.8 million unpaid brokerage fees over hospitals deal by two Pakistani brokers February 15 February: Steward wants government to investigate MaltaToday managing editor Matthew Vella over a report in this newspaper outlining the company's opaque ownership structure Adrian Delia filed the court case in 2018 in a bid to force the cancellation of the 99-year concession agreement on the basis that Vitals Global Healthcare and their heirs in title, Steward Healthcare, had not fulfilled their contractual obligations