Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521306
KEITH Schembri, the chief ally of former prime minister Joseph Muscat, was one of the architects of the Vitals privatisation concession that was crafted intimately with Shaukat Ali, the Pakistani businessman who sourced investors for the multi-million pro- ject. But investigators in the Vitals magisterial inquiry believe Schembri was central to all decision on the share purchase agreement for Steward and Vitals (VGH), even having a say on which VGH creditors should be paid, an involvement that amount to that of a "concealed owner" of the PPP rather than a government official. Schembri is believed to have been well aware of the misappropriation of conces- sion funds by Ram Tumuluri, the original VGH 'investor' brought in to run the con- cession by Shaukat Ali Investigators say Shaukt Ali's family was rewarded with huge consultancy fees when Steward was to take over Vitals as con- cessionaires of the hospital – as much as €480,000. The "fees" were not reflected in the com- pany's accounts because they were paid from Steward's parent company in the USA to the Swiss agent Accutor, the same payroll company that engaged Joseph Muscat for consultancies in 2020. Investigators described Accutor as a "qua- si bank" for the concessionaire companies, and said Schembri was in almost daily con- tact with Accutor director Wasay Bhatti, both of them being part of six WhatsApp groups. The payments to Shaukat Ali were made two weeks before Steward Healthcare Inter- national – the international arm that took over the concession – signed a memoran- dum of understanding with the government to take over the hospitals concession. In August 2019, the first of eight payments of €125,000 – some €1 million – started being advanced by Accutor for a "political support fund" as it was referenced by Armin Ernst, the former VGH chief executive who engineered Steward's takeover of the con- cession, to another company called Sping Healthcare. Investigators believe the use of Sping Healthcare was a parternship between Schembri and Shaukat Ali and his relatives, that was fronted by Accutor. Spring Health- care would invoice a Steward subsidiary for consulting fees, but emails from Ernst show the payments were used to support "polit- ical and government activities and inerac- tions." Spring Healthcare was also being used by Schembri and Shaukat Ali to explore new business opportunities in the Philippines, for a major IT project, and a digital bank in Tunisia. When COVID hit the Maltese islands, Spring Healthcare started trading in COV- ID-19 medical supplies. Investigators be- lieve Schembri, an active part of these busi- ness ventures, was using funds from the concession for these new forays. One of them was Cannapharm Technol- ogies Malta, which was incorporated with money from Spring Healthcare and Ac- cutor, paid into the client account of Vi- tals-Steward's auditor Chris Spiteri. Online reputation management financed by Vitals Vitals Global Healthcare itself also paid some $9,000 a month over the course of 11 months, to a Dubai and Pakistani joint venture called Itech5, which ran online rep- utational management services for Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. Through the use of these services, Schem- bri and Mizzi's online profiles and appear- ance in search engines were manipulated, to present them in a positive light – a kickback in all effects. MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt 8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 MAY 2024 VITALS INQUIRY Schembri and Shaukat Ali: 'consultancy' kickbacks flowed from Vitals-Steward PPP Investigators say former PM's chief of staff used hospitals PPP for consultancy fees paid to Shaukat Ali, and personal costs for online reputation management St Elmo 'laguna hotel' UNESCO stopped: €170,000 kickback alleged THE rotten core of the Muscat adminis- tration had made impressive inroads into more than just the Labour government's hospitals PPP. When in 2018, MaltaToday reported that the UNESCO's World Heritage ex- perts had put a stop to a plan to gut the historic St Elmo fort in Valletta to create an artificial laguna for a hotel, little was known then that Shaukat Ali – the Pa- kistani businessman at the heart of the Vitals hospitals deal – was also making moves in this project. Investigators in the Vitals magisterial in- quiry now say that Shaukat Ali was part of a memorandum of understanding drafted by former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi – all three now facing criminal charges related to the Vitals PPP – to take over St Elmo for a hotel project. The front company was Sohum Well- ness, with a sole, uncontested bid for the restoration of lower St Elmo, a tender is- sued by the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation on 3 November 2015. The company itself was established just weeks later, on 17 November, 2015. The company was owned by Indian millionaire Sanjeev Mansotra's Planet- core group, whose relationship with the Maltese government was the Core Malta Education, another PPP that was expect- ed to provide "innovative solutions" in school and higher education. Investigators say Planetcore paid $200,000 into the client account of lawyer David Meli – described as a money mid- dleman – who then passed on €170,000 to Bluestone – one of the offshore com- panies that held ownership in the Vitals PPP. Planetcore and Schembri's auditors Nexia BT then signed a letter of engage- ment over the GHRC contract to rede- velop lower Fort St Elmo, for a transac- tion that investigators say was meant as a guise to hide what the money was being used for. MaltaToday had originally uncovered the relationship between Mansotra and Shaukat Ali: Planetcore was owned by Strategic Management Investment Inc, the same BVI company that owned Sohum Wellness, while Shaukat Ali's consultancy company Eurasia held a shareholding in Planetcore. Sohum Wellness became the sole, suc- cessful bidder to take over lower St Elmo – popularly known as the location for the filming of the 1978 prison drama Midnight Express – to turn into a luxury spa hotel. However an experts mission from UN- ESCO's World Heritage Centre took the initial project back to the drawing board. The experts, whose recommendations are legally binding, said turning the St Elmo parade ground into a laguna with a di- rect access through to the sea could not be allowed. A final report was submitted by UNESCO's World Heritage Centre re- questing a heritage impact assessment on the hotel proposal. MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt