A former consultant for Vitals and Steward charged over his role in the fraudulent hospitals concession is seeking to reverse a court order prohibiting him from commenting on the case.

The request was made by lawyers representing Asad Shaukat Ali, the son of Shaukat Ali Chaudhry who is believed to have been secretly running Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH), in light of “heavy coverage and speculative statements in the press."

VGH was the concessionaire in the €4 billion contract to operate three state hospitals, a deal that was annulled by a civil court last year on the basis of fraud.

Asad Ali is pleading not guilty to involvement in a criminal organisation as well as bribing top public officials including former prime minister Joseph Muscat.

He was charged under summons earlier this month.

In a court hearing on Friday, the defence requested the court reconsider a decree issued at the first hearing that prohibits the accused from publicly commenting about the proceedings. 

Lawyer Shazoo Ghaznavi asked the court to “reconsider such decree in light of heavy coverage and speculative statements in the press, including but not limited to the absurd assertion that the accused was in some manner cooperating with the AG’s [Attorney General's] office with a view to some form of plea bargaining".

Ghaznavi described the allegation as "totally unfounded... and a complete untruth.”

Prosecuting lawyers objected to the request because, they argued, such a court order was meant to “ensure that proceedings are conducted in the best interests of justice.”

Moreover, the prosecution declared that there were “no such discussions” for a possible plea bargain with the AG’s Office.

The court is expected to decide upon the defence’s request at the next sitting next month.

Police inspector testimony

During Friday's case, former police inspector Anthony Scerri testified about his role in assisting inquiring Magistrate Gabriella Vella, who was handling the voluminous inquiry into the fraudulent deal.

Scerri’s role, like that of other police officers roped into the magisterial inquiry, was limited to summoning witnesses and executing search warrants under the magistrate’s direction.

He recalled discussing with the magistrate a particular media story published in November 2021 about two former directors of Swiss-based company Accutor, Tyrone Greenshields and Kamal Sharma, who had spoken to the media claiming to have information that was “valuable” to the inquiry.

Scerri said he contacted the two individuals via Interpol, urging them to come to Malta to testify.

He did not know if they ever did, explained the former officer who was tasked with leading the search at Joseph Muscat’s home in January 2022.

Around the same time, the magistrate had issued warrants for other searches at a Ta’ Xbiex residence and also at ID Malta.

After those last three searches, Scerri was not involved any further.

He resigned from the corps in August 2022.

Under cross examination, Scerri explained that the Vitals inquiry was “different” from other inquiries initiated by the police.

In those inquiries, the police would ask the inquiring magistrate to appoint experts to assist the police. But in the Vitals inquiry, the police were simply asked to assist.

They were ordered to seize files and devices under the guidance of foreign experts but were “not privy” to the material seized.

Over 100 persons were summoned to testify in the inquiry, said superintendent Rennie Stivala who took over after Scerri’s resignation.

Asked whether “Eurasia”, or “Incorps” or “Assad” rang a bell, Stivala replied they didn't.

“To be fair we carried out searches on the magistrate’s instructions… and were assisted by experts who gave us keywords to go by,” said Stivala.

Stivala was succeeded by inspector Wayne R. Borg who testified on Friday that the police had “no visibility of the documents seized.”

He confirmed that police did not question anyone, including Assad Ali.

“No person was ever requested to report to FCID to give an explanation on this inquiry," he said.

Faced with a statement in the inquiry report saying that “further police investigation” could be required, Borg said the police and Attorney General were discussing possible further investigations by the police.

Charges had been issued against Asad Ali and his father but further criminal investigations were still being considered.

Lawyers Shazoo Ghaznavi and Jessica Formosa assisted Shaukat Ali.