Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1530881
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 DECEMBER 2024 2024 LOOKING BACK The Vitals 2020 Around the same time period, Muscat flies to Switzerland and visits the officers of Accutor, who collected money for VGH shareholders. He drafts up an indefinite contract with Spring X Media, which is linked to Accutor March Joseph Muscat receives €15,000 payment from Accutor June 7 June: Konrad Mizzi says Malta Enterprise signed the MoU with Vitals investors, not him. He also calls on government to publish the MoU after it went missing. September January 18 January: Joseph Muscat defends Vitals deal in court, says €100 million termination clause guaranteed bank loan without violating EU state-aid rules July 28 July: Steward freezes St Luke's masterplan as PM fails to deliver on pledge to amend tainted deal September 12 September: VGH law firm ordered to hand over client file to the police Ambrish Gupta, an early investor in the hospitals project, sues Steward Healthcare for $5 million in a London court initially owed to him by Vitals. 19 January: Police raid former PM Joseph Muscat's Burmarrad property and Sa Maison office January 26 January: Steward Healthcare refuse to pay €36.5 million tax bill to Inland Revenue Department Timeline compiled by Karl Azzopardi 8 March: Steward & government set to hold mediation meetings to find an amicable solution to the concession Steward stepping down as PM, had also bragged about his proximity to Muscat and Schembri. In one email exchange, Yorgen Fenech sought Bhatti's assistance to transfer funds in foreign jurisdic- tions. A reference was made to "a common friend" – presumably Keith Schembri. The inquiry report found that Ivan Vassallo, a former marketing director at Technoline, set up and fronted several companies that were used to extract kickbacks from government projects. Ac- cording to the findings, one par- ticular company called Eurybates was used to skim profits from government tenders. Investiga- tors concluded that 90% of the shares were planned to be held by Adrian Hilman, Pierre Slad- den, Keith Schembri, and Konrad Mizzi. Eurybates entered into com- mercial relationships with several contractors involved in various health projects across Malta, in- cluding Barts Medical School, Paola Primary Healthcare Re- gional Hub, Mater Dei Hospital, Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre, and a private hospital at Smart City. Schembri and Mizzi even planned to get involved in the Technoline takeover, accord- ing to the findings of the inquiry. Investigators also found that Schembri, while still chief of staff, was fully aware of the financial misappropriation of public funds by then VGH CEO Ram Tumu- luri. Schembri had trusted a senior VGH official to create a report on Tumuluri's actions, as the report listed eleven separate instances of misappropriation of public funds running into millions of euros, including illicit withdrawals of money the government paid to Karin Grech Hospital for staff salaries. Despite knowing this, Schembri did not share any of this informa- tion within government struc- tures. Despite knowing about Tumu- luri's past, the chief of staff still trusted him with sensitive in- formation. In fact, in November 2016, Schembri had told Tumu- luri about an early election sched- uled for 2017. This revelation confirms what murder suspect Yorgen Fenech had said: that he knew sometime in December 2016 that the election would hap- pen in 2017. Abela's deal with Muscat When Abela first rose to power as Labour leader and prime min- ister, he kept his predecessor at arm's length. He barely dared to mention him by name, so it re- mained to be seen how he would react to Muscat's reappearance on the political scene. In reality, Muscat never reap- peared in an active political ca- pacity, but instead appeared in criminal court. Muscat himself kept a low pro- file after stepping down as PM when damning allegations were brought against his closest aide, Keith Schembri. It was only when police raided his home in January 2022 that he began to make more public appearances, including video interviews, Facebook posts, and vlogs. Muscat went on to start court proceedings in the hopes of re- moving Magistrate Gabriella Vella from the Vitals hospitals investigation after media reports revealed that Muscat had re- ceived consultancy fees from a company called VGH Europe. As this court effort progressed, Abela remained cautious when commenting on the matter. He insisted that those leading the process must work in tranquillity and serenity. We don't quite know when the change of heart occurred, but what we do know is that only days into the new year, Abela de- scribed Muscat as a "dear friend" at a rally at the Orpheum Thea- tre in Gzira. This coincided with mounting speculation that the inquiry was coming to a close. His declaration of friendship was the first time since becom- ing leader in 2020 that Abela acknowledged Muscat with such fondness. This paved the way for Abela's own Faustian pact with Muscat. Like most Faustian pacts, Abela was at a crossroads at the start of the election campaign. His first option was to use Muscat to ener- gise a section of the Labour elec- torate, playing into the 'us versus them' mentality and conjuring the Establishment bogeyman as a scapegoat for the allegations against the Labour government. His second option was to dis- tance himself from Muscat and the allegations against him, in- sisting that the judicial system must be left to work in peace and serenity. While the Labour government may have made mis- takes in the past, it is not repeat- ing them today. Abela made his decision. Mus- cat addressed several local coun- cil and MEP candidate events, and hundreds attended to see him speak. Nearly all Labour MEP candidates invited Muscat to their events. Meanwhile, Abela did little in public to distance himself from Muscat. He allowed propagandist Manuel Cuschieri to interview the former PM on One Radio, even when the charges against him were already known. Abela went into full siege men- tality, claiming that a shadowy Establishment was behind the suspicious timing of the inquiry's conclusion. Reading between the lines, Abela appears to insinuate what Muscat had been saying for years: that the inquiry was com- promised in some way. Muscat preached the same Establishment sermon, claiming that some of the country's institutions were working against Labour support- ers. A Faustian pact A deal does not always mean putting pen to paper on a con- tractual agreement. Deals can be tacit and implied. But gener- ally, they involve an exchange. In Abela's deal with Muscat, he offers a show of support to Mus- cat (playing Devil's Advocate?) in exchange for political power, largely in the hopes of maintain- ing Labour's supermajority. Apart from an exchange, there is one unavoidable feature of the Faustian pact – it doesn't end well for the person doing the bargain- ing. While the Labour Party won the European election, it saw its majority cut by over 30,000 first- count votes. This was followed by a string of resignations over several months: Daniel Micallef, PL deputy leader for party af- fairs; Chris Fearne as PL deputy leader for parliamentary affairs; Randolph De Battista from the CEO position; and Ramona At- tard as PL president. Fearne re- signed due to the charges he was facing in connection to the Vitals inquiry, while the others insisted their decision was a long time coming. Abela does appear to be los- ing control of his parliamentary group. Disgruntled MPs seem to be working to undermine Abela from within, and he is well aware of this – he has even accused some MPs of undermining the Labour Party's electoral chanc- es so that he could be blamed for any defeat. If hell has broken loose within the Labour Party, Abela can blame it on his deal with the devil. FROM PREVIOUS PAGE