Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1519882
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 MAY 2024 2 Hospitals inquiry: The political protagonists THE magisterial inquiry into the hospitals tdeal kicked off in 2019 after rule of law NGO Repubblika sought an investiga- tion into the part-privatisation of three state hospitals. The inquiry initially focussed on the role of Konrad Mizzi, Chris Cardona and Edward Sci- cluna played in the deal. The primary focus at that stage was the manner by which the 99-year concession for the use of St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo General hospitals was granted to Vitals Global Health- care in 2015. The obscure company was made up of investors with little or no track record in managing healthcare facilities, who won the public tender in dubious circumstances. Media reports, including those by Daphne Caruana Galizia back in 2015, had shown how the same investors who won the contract for the running of three hospitals had already signed a memorandum of understanding with the government. This information was con- firmed by the Auditor General in the first damning report on the hospitals deal released in July 2020. The National Audit Office probed the award of the con- cession and determined that there was collusion between Vi- tals and government. The NAO flagged the lack of due diligence carried out on Vitals and de- scribed the feasibility study as superficial. It pinned the lack of good governance on Konrad Mizzi. In a second report released in December 2021, the NAO de- tailed the extent of the Vitals fi- asco, outlining how the then de- funct company achieved none of its milestones when it took control of three state hospitals. A third NAO report published in May last year that focussed on the transfer of the hospitals concession to Steward Health- care from Vitals in 2018, found that Konrad Mizzi misled Cab- inet when negotiating with Steward. Throughout this period, me- dia reports revealed, how there was a money trail between a Swiss-based company with links to Vitals and former prime min- ister Joseph Muscat. And last year, the Maltese court rescinded the hospitals contract in a civil case initiated by the Opposition MP Adrian Delia. In a scathing judgment confirmed on appeal, the deal was branded fraudulent. It is plausible to believe that along the years, Magistrate Ga- briella Vella kept widening the remit of her inquiry as new in- formation emerged in the pub- lic domain. She may have also come across new information. Her findings, were presented to the Attorney General on 25 April. The AG received 78 box- es of evidence from the magis- trate. Vella's conclusions remain under wraps. The magistrate would not have found guilt, be- cause her job is to preserve all evidence. However, on the basis of evidence collected she can recommend that criminal ac- tion be taken against several key players in the deal. The decision to prosecute now lies with the Attorney General and the police, who could also be tasked to carry out further investigations if needed. We look at the political pro- tagonists linked to the hospitals deal and whose names may be flagged in the inquiry findings. Joseph Muscat The former prime minister who resigned in January 2020 was ultimately responsible for the actions of his government. The hospitals deal was one of his administration's flagship projects. Although initially the inquiry was not about him, rev- elations in the Times of Malta in November 2021 that Muscat received payments from a Swiss company with links to Steward Healthcare put him in the mag- istrate's crosshairs. The pay- ments for consultancy services started after Muscat stepped down as prime minister. At the time, he was still an MP. Muscat denied any wrongdoing and insisted the work was legit- imate and declared. However, following this media report, the magistrate had ordered a police search of Muscat's Burmarrad home in January 2022 from where electronic devices were confiscated. In May 2023, an investigation by OCCRP, Times of Malta and The Shift News claimed Muscat was being in- vestigated over two payments from a Swiss firm previously called VGH Europe. Konrad Mizzi Konrad Mizzi was handed the health portfolio in a Cabinet reshuffle in 2014 when Muscat relieved Godfrey Farrugia of his ministerial duties. Mizzi was the main architect of the hos- pitals deal. He continued han- dling all dealings related to the concession even after he lost his health and energy portfolios in 2016 when the Panama Papers scandal erupted. Mizzi also oversaw the trans- fer of the concession to Steward Healthcare in 2018 and was the primary negotiator with Stew- ard on side agreements reached prior to the end of the Muscat administration. The Auditor General's report suggested that Mizzi negotiated contractual changes with Steward behind the back of health minister Chris Fearne. Mizzi received major flak for the manner he behaved on the deal in all three NAO reports. Chris Cardona The former economy minis- ter's publicly known involve- ment in the deal appears to be limited to the initial stages when some of the Vitals inves- tors had approached govern- ment with a proposal to take over St Luke's Hospital. Malta Enterprise, which was under Cardona's purview, had entered We have no visibility of the magistrate's findings in the hospitals inquiry, nonetheless KURT SANSONE takes a look at the political protagonists who were connected in some way or another with the deal From left: Konrad Mizzi, Edward Scicluna, Chris Cardona, Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat