Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/936285
maltatoday SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2018 2 News I t was not an easy time for Josie Muscat, three years ago when he was on the brink of selling Capua hospital in Sliema. Muscat had single-handedly de- cided to negotiate the sale of the hospital and the Saint James brand name he and his family had pains- takingly built up over the years. "It was a decision that caused me big personal problems," Mus- cat tells me when I meet him at a Sliema café. It was 4 March 2015 when news broke that Muscat had reached a deal with American investors for the sale of the 60-bed hospital and the brand 'Saint James'. The development had come as a big surprise. Muscat, a doctor and former Nationalist Party MP, founded the Saint James Group in 1984. It started with a clinic in Zabbar and gradually became the largest private healthcare provider, hav- ing also pioneered in vitro fertili- sation, MRI and PET/CT scans in Malta. The negotiations involving Saint James were happening at the same time that a group of foreign inves- tors were eyeing the takeover of three State hospitals. But these two seemingly unre- lated events did have a common factor: Chaudry Shaukat Ali, a Pakistani businessperson resident in Malta, who is now a Maltese citizen. The middleman "Shaukat was well-connected to Castille," Muscat says of the mid- dleman who put him in touch with American doctor Irfan Iqbal at the start of 2015. In the preceding months, Shau- kat Ali, through his company Pivot Holdings, had set up a joint com- pany with Mark Pawley's Blue- stone Investments, to propose to the government a public-private partnership for the running of the Gozo hospital. Unknown to many was the fact that Shaukat Ali and his partners had signed a memorandum of understanding with Malta Enter- prise back in October 2014 for the take-over of the Gozo hospital and possibly St Luke's and Karin Grech. Back to the Saint James deal and Muscat recounts how one even- ing he attended a meeting with Shaukat Ali, Iqbal, some other in- vestors and their Maltese lawyer. "On my side, I had my lawyer and two advisors," Muscat says, adding the parties agreed on the price and subsequently concluded the preliminaries. Iqbal had to make a down- payment to secure the deal but months passed and the American doctor "never coughed up one cent", Muscat says. By the end of March 2015, the government had signed an agree- ment with Barts Medical School to open a campus in Gozo and sev- eral days later issued a tender for the part-privatisation of St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals. Three companies submitted bids for the multi-million euro project, including Vitals Global Healthcare that had as its shareholders the Bluestone partners and Canadian Ram Tumuluri. Tumuluri's boasting With the Saint James deal now in limbo, Muscat tells me that Shau- kat Ali arranged another meeting at an office in Kappara. "I thought Irfan would be there to wrap up the deal but instead I found Shaukat Ali, his lawyer, Ram Tumuluri and doctor Ambrish Gupta opposite me," Muscat says. Tumuluri was by then the face of VGH, the company involved in the privatisation process of the public hospitals. Gupta was one of the in- vestors in the Vitals project. Muscat describes the enthusiasm with which Tumuluri and Gupta spoke of their vision for health- care in Malta. "What they said was music to my ears since I always dreamt of the way the health sys- tem in Malta should be and we signed a promise of sale agree- ment," he says. But Muscat also recalls how KURT SANSONE Vitals Global Healthcare Saint James the botched the middleman Josie Muscat: the former Nationalist MP and candidate was one of the first to get in touch with Chaudry Shaukat Ali, who was interested in negotiating the sale of Muscat's Saint James Hospital group to other entrepreneurs. Muscat says he quickly learnt of plans for the privatisation of parts of the Maltese hospitals system He built up the Saint James hospital brand over almost four decades but three years ago JOSIE MUSCAT was on the brink of selling out to investors that went on to take over three public hospitals. He tells his story to KURT SANSONE PHOTO GILBERT CALLEJA "This was concocted by Projects Malta under Konrad Mizzi... Fearne is not motivated by financial gain" Ħaż-Żabbar Città Hompesch Laqgħa Pubblika – PA/11060/17 Il-Kunsill Lokali ta' Ħaż-Żabbar javża li ser issir laqgħa pubblika ta' konsultazzjoni dwar il-proġett propost fejn ser jinbena stabbiliment tal-ikel u parkeġġ fi Triq tal-Labour. Il-laqgħa ser issir nhar l-Erbgħa 7 ta' Frar 2018 fis-6.00 ta' filgħaxija fis-Sala tal- Kunsill, Ċentru Ċiviku, Triq iċ-Ċawsli, Ħaż-Żabbar. Il-Kunsill jixtieq il-parteċipazzjoni tiegħek f'din il-laqgħa.