Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1493590
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 FEBRUARY 2023 OPINION 5 Saviour Balzan WE need not have waited for a Maltese judge to pronounce himself on the private hospitals agreement with Vitals and Stew- ard Healthcare to be convinced that the whole agreement was a scam and devised to enrich a few individuals and companies. But Mr Justice Francesco De- pasquale's sentence put together all the bits and pieces like a com- plicated jigsaw puzzle to prove beyond doubt that there were bad intentions. And that is put- ting it very mildly. Surely, Adrian Delia who lost the PN leadership to Bernard Grech has much to be happy for. Where it not for him, we would have never got this far. This La- bour government definitely has egg on its face and if there is a moment for humility than we have discovered it. On Friday, former prime min- ister Joseph Muscat attempted to kick the ball in the court of his Labour Cabinet citing collective responsibility. It was a desperate attempt by him to shirk off all responsibility when in truth he is the culprit for this mess. It is true the Cabinet is ultimate- ly responsible for all decisions taken, but surely the responsi- bility lies first with Joseph Mus- cat who knew that his minister, Konrad Mizzi, had even signed a side letter which committed the Maltese government to paying Steward Healthcare €100 million. No one is mentioning also the influence and importance of Muscat's former chief of staff who was a key figure in this scan- dal. The €100 million side letter was never discussed at Cabinet level or made known to the Cabinet and as far as I know also not to Chris Fearne. Muscat knows that for a fact but conveniently avoids mentioning this. Nonetheless, the Vitals and Steward Healthcare agreement was blessed by Cabinet and sold as an urgent requirement for upgrading our health system. At the time we had this long debate about privatisation not about whether the investors were seri- ous or not. The Nationalists felt uncom- fortable criticising privatisation and in the process we did not re- alise that it was a scam by a bunch of cronies aided by Castille. In the end it was an exercise to enrich a bunch of greedy bastards. In November 2016, on Xtra I asked Chris Fearne who was be- hind Vitals. He did not reveal the ultimate beneficiary owners of Vitals Global Healthcare but said that the mother company of VGH – Bluestone Special Situa- tions 4 – is managed by the Ox- ley Group. "It has fund managers who pour billions of euro into it," he said, while insisting that the government had conducted due diligence tests on VGH. We now know that the two men behind Vitals, were Mark Pawley and Ram Tumuluri. They were nothing more than cronies. To- day Mark Pawley runs a compa- ny in Singapore called Blackrun partners, making no reference to his experience in Malta in his profile. Tumuluri is CEO of an- other new company known as Causis Group Ltd focused, of all things, on charities. He too makes it a point to erase any connection to Malta. When Vitals landed in Malta, the Muscat machine made it a point to address the issue of bad publicity by appointing former Nationalist MP Professor Albert Fenech on the board and a for- mer PN strategist and TV per- sonality as their media strategist amongst others. It was also a time when criticism was not taken lightly. Vitals also spent money addressing bad publicity, Steward on the other hand sought other more refined methods to silence the press. Vitals arrived and disappeared, the new company Stewards held on to the senior staff including their CEO Armin Ernst. They took over three Maltese hospi- tals, with 430 nurses and 89 doc- tors. But their contribution to medical health was minimal. Their existence was dependent on handsome financial subven- tions from Maltese tax payers. But it got worse. Fearing the retribution from those opposed to their presence in Malta they convinced the gov- ernment to commit to a €100 million pay-out if their contract was rescinded by the courts. Konrad Mizzi, known in in- ner Labour circles as 'il-pażtaż tagħhom', made it possible. Justice Depasquale's sentence made it clear that the contract was rescinded because it was flawed, fraudulent and the con- cessionaires failed to live up to their obligations. That saved the Maltese tax pay- er forking out €100 million and an additional €35 million in out- standing Bank of Valletta loans. Today, Robert Abela must eat plenty of humble pie. He has to admit that serious mistakes were carried out. He will probably con- firm that the government will not appeal and interestingly call for the appeal period to be shortened and heard without further delay. The government wants to take over the operations of Stewards at once. Abela will now have to the face the music. He can be accused of complicity, but that will not stick, for he was, like many others, not privy to what was happening in Muscat's very closed circle. But Abela was a member of the Cabinet and that is not an easy one to get out of. He will also find it difficult to politically disassoci- ate himself from Muscat, though this will be inevitable at some point. The Prime Minister has to come clean and state the obvious. It will not be easy to digest for many La- bourites. The fault lies with the three people who managed this deal with Vitals and Steward. The truth is always infinitely more difficult to handle. But at the end of the day ridding this country of Steward is neces- sary. Steward issued a statement on Friday evening that the judgment goes far beyond the court's remit, arguing that it presents major concerns for the rule of law in Malta. It added that the ruling will have serious implications for the future of foreign investment in the country. Considering that Vitals and Steward brought no investment and depended on local bank loans and government subventions to exist, I really cannot understand whether they really qualify as an example of foreign direct invest- ment. And are they being serious when they talk of rule of law? These guys not only wanted an editor investigated, but their CEO, who worked for Vitals pre- sided over an operation that left Malta shortchanged. * * * This week, the appeals court presided by Justice Wenzu Mintoff decided that all Freedom of information requests about government contracts with my companies since 2013 requested by Caroline Muscat should be ac- ceded to. As legal representative I have signed all contracts for advertis- ing campaigns or surveys since 1999. Most of these contracts have been made public but I have no problem being transparent and surely our accounts are in- finitely more detailed and reveal- ing than any other media house's accounts. The point here is not about ac- cess to information requests but rather the selective nature in ask- ing for Freedom of Information requests. In this scenario, I am left with no other choice other than to request information on all gov- ernment contributions to all the other media houses in the last 20 years. I say 20 years because Caroline Muscat, a PN apologist, wishes to give the impression that before a certain date, media apartheid did not exist and that journalism started and ends with the online platform she owns. We can then compare and see what has been happening to gov- ernment advertising or services. And yes, I believe that without State intervention, media houses will cease to exist. And since we are talking of transparency can Caroline Mus- cat perhaps declare all her rev- enues and the origin of all her contributions and contributors? And also make known who all her writers are? I have no problem being shown for what I am – a maverick, ambi- tious, hard working and abrasive media owner. But let us see what is happening in the whole media scene not only in the ones owned by myself. Humility and pointing to the culprits Joseph Muscat and Armin Ernst