Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1499533
€1.50 THURSDAY 18 MAY 2023 • ISSUE 206 WWW.BUSINESSTODAY.COM.MT PAGE 3 Joseph Muscat was paid for consultancy by Swiss firm with links to VGH investor Luxury cars, hotel stays and private schools: how the people behind VGH spent their cash NICOLE MEILAK & KURT SANSONE FORMER prime minister Joseph Mus- cat is being investigated for his consul- tancy contract with a Swiss company that could have been used to disguise payments from the Vitals-Steward hospitals deal. An investigation by the Times of Malta, The Shift News, and OCCRP has revealed that police are probing Muscat's bank accounts and income declarations in connection to corrup- tion in the hospitals' deal. Investigators suspect that his con- sultancy contract with Swiss company SpringX Media could have been used to disguise payments from the deal. Muscat received consultancy pay- ments from SpringX Media and Accu- tor Consulting, both registered at the same Swiss address. However, Accutor Consulting used to be called VGH Europe. It was switched to Accutor Consulting in January 2018, shortly before Steward Health Care took over the concession to run three hospitals in Malta. Under the full consultancy contract, Muscat was set to receive €540,000 across 36 monthly payments. But the payments stopped abruptly after four months, meaning Muscat netted €60,000 from SpringX Media and Ac- cutor Consulting. The investigation also shows how funds flowed from Steward Health Care to Accutor. Between March 2019 and January 2020, Steward Health Care wired €500,000 to Accutor Con- sulting for consulting services. Two months later, cash started to flow to Joseph Muscat's bank account. Muscat was unfazed Wednesday morning when confronted by MaltaTo- day at his State-funded office in Pieta about information that shows how the consultancy firm he worked for, Accu- tor, had been previously set up as VGH Europe. PAGE 3 STAR PERFORMER MSE FTSE 100 EUR EXCHANGE RATES Trading Date: 17 May 2023 Number of Trades: 76 Turnover: € 1,059,651.39 MSE TRX Index: 7,747.48 Change: +0.609% Name: 3.5% BOV SUB NTS MT0000021320 - Currency € Last Traded: 17 May 2023 Price 89.200 Change +1.190 US Dollar 1.0388 British Pound: 0.86477 Japanese Yen: 144.59 Australian Dollar: 1.5451 Swiss Franc: 0.98700 7,587.67 75.67 7,592.39 / 7,512.00 Value Net variation High / Low +1.01% Local. Experienced. Personal. Frank. Since 1969. L E T T I N G LET'S BE FRANK Former Prime MInister Joseph Muscat denies receiving corruption money PAUL COCKS PEOPLE involved in Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH), which was en- trusted with the running of three public hospitals in 2015, spent money on luxury cars, five-star hotels and private schools, according to finan- cial documents. Over 22,000 financial documents, dating back to between October 2015 and January 2020, were obtained by the Organized Crime and Corrup- tion Reporting Project (OCCRP) and shared with Times of Malta and e Shift News. eir investigation included film footage of St Luke's Hospital, which was one of three hospitals that were supposed to undergo a €200 million upgrade. In 2021, the Auditor General called on the authorities to investigate con- cerns by the health ministry that funds meant for the running of the St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo hos- pitals were being funneled out of the government concession by VGH.