Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1523932
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 JULY 2024 NEWS ǤǡȋȌǡ ǤǤʹͲʹͲʹ͵ ȋǤͶͷʹȌ ǡʹͲʹ͵Ǥ ǡǣ ͳǤ Ǥ ʹǤǤ ͵Ǥ Ǥ ͶǤ ǡ ǡǡ Ǥ ǣǤǡͳͷǡ ǦǦǡǤ ǣǤǡͳͷǡ ǦǦǡǤ ǣͳͲ͵ʹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The hospitals magisterial inquiry showed how in August that year Steward Health Care sought Kon- rad Mizzi's support for its plan to hive off the Gozo campus to a property trust – a move supported by Muscat himself. But in his eulogy, Muscat failed to mention that if he had his way five years ago the Barts campus would not belong to the Maltese govern- ment today. And the man to put a spoke in the wheel at the time was Chris Fearne. Fearne objected to property transfer The irony in Muscat's Facebook post is that it came two days after court evidence showed that for- mer deputy prime minister Chris Fearne had objected to the Barts property sale. It was Cabinet secretary Ryan Spagnol who on the witness stand in the ongoing criminal proceed- ings against Fearne and others confirmed the minutes of a Cabi- net meeting held on 10 September 2019. In that meeting Fearne had raised his objections to the arrangement that was being developed that would have effectively dispos- sessed government of the land in question. Sources, who at the time were close to government, have told MaltaToday that Fearne raised the issue on Cabinet's agenda without giving prior notice. "Word had reached Chris [Fearne] that Steward and Kon- rad [Mizzi] were manoeuvring to hive off the Barts campus into a trust, putting into question the government's control of the prop- erty once the concession is up," the sources said, adding: "He [Fearne] raised the issue when 'other mat- ters arising' came up as an agenda item." At the time, despite having been health minister since 2016, Fearne was not privy to ongoing discus- sions that were happening between Steward and Konrad Mizzi. In an arrangement criticised by the Auditor General, Mizzi contin- ued to be the government's point man for the contractual arrange- ments on the hospitals concession after he was removed from health minister when the Panama Papers scandal erupted in 2016. But despite Cabinet's agreement in September 2019 that the proper- ty granted on concession to Stew- ard should remain in government hands, the magisterial inquiry into the deal shows that talks between the American company and Mizzi on the Barts property transfer ac- celerated in the following months. Eventually, a non-binding memo- randum of understanding between government and Steward was pre- sented to Cabinet in November but this was never actioned. In De- cember 2019, political turmoil in the wake of Yorgen Fenech's arrest as a person of interest in the Daph- ne Caruana Galizia murder saw Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri resign, followed by Joseph Muscat, who formally stepped down in Jan- uary 2020 after the Labour Party chose his replacement. Barts transfer and political support fund But the Vitals inquiry report makes a notable association be- tween the requested transfer of the Barts school and instructions given by Steward CEO Armin Ernst for the creation of a "political support fund" held by Swiss company Ac- cutor. Over the course of several months, starting in September 2019, Steward paid up to €1 mil- lion into this fund, which investi- gators believe was used for nefar- ious reasons. The inquiry established that after stepping down from prime minis- ter, Joseph Muscat received sever- al payments from Accutor for con- sultancy work. He contends there was nothing illicit about this and all work is documented. But even Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri developed commercial relationships with Accutor. Inves- tigators found it highly suspicious that the three men would end up independently of each other carry- ing out work for Accutor. The implication is that the ar- rangements Muscat, Mizzi and Schembri had were intended as kickbacks over the hospitals con- cession. They are facing charges related to corruption, fraud, mon- ey laundering and participating in a criminal conspiracy. All three have pleaded not guilty. The inquiry notes that in the days immediately prior to set- ting up the political support fund, Armin Ernst was in contact with Konrad Mizzi and the Office of the Prime Minister in relation to two matters that Steward required assistance with. The first required Konrad Mizzi's initial support for the transfer of ownership of the multi-million-euro property at Barts Medical School to Steward's second largest institutional inves- tor. The second was the acquisition of a Maltese passport for Steward International's chief Ralph de la Torre. 'Transaction not possible without government consent' In a letter dated 8 August 2019 Armin Ernst wrote to Konrad Miz- zi regarding the proposed trans- fer of ownership of Barts Medi- cal School to Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPT). MPT was a New York Stock Exchange listed real estate invest- ment trust and in Ernst's words Steward's 'second largest institu- tional investor'. Ernst explained to Mizzi that the proposed transaction would assist in arranging finance of the 'wider Project'. Ernst also commented: "Needless to say, the proposed transaction will not be possible without the government's con- tinued support, cooperation and consent which will enable us to proceed in negotiations with MPT. Steward appreciates the opportu- nity to work collaboratively with the government on a matter of such national importance in the spirit of a true public-private part- nership." Testimony shows Chris Fearne had Chris Fearne had objected in Cabinet to a request by Steward that was being entertained by Konrad Mizzi for the Barts Medical School campus in Gozo to be hived off into a property trust, effectively dispossessing government of the property