There is one question that got lost in the madness following last year’s revelations by the Times of Malta and the OCCPR (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) regarding who was behind allegations made in a Pakistani newspaper that Chris Fearne had, indirectly through a member of his staff, taken a bribe of €3 million from former Vitals CEO Ram Tumuluri.
We find out today that allegedly behind the attack was a lobbyist firm based in London named CT Group whose CEO is Lynton Crosby – a man already known to the Joseph Muscat administration who had, in the past, entered Castille on a number of occasions.
Surprisingly, a failing Steward still managed to pay CT Group for its services. Steward got taxpayers’ money from the Labour government as a result of a fraudulent hospital contract.
In parliament, on July 8, Fearne asked the speaker to provide protection for himself and his family from those who were behind the frame-up, adding that those responsible were capable of “doing even worse”.
Two days later, Fearne stated that he could not exclude anyone as being the mastermind behind the fake corruption claims and did not answer when asked whether he believed people in the Muscat administration were responsible for the frame-up.
There is a well-known saying given as advice from parents to their children. It says that you should not trust friends any more than you trust your enemies. It seems that Fearne was not aware of such advice.
Fearne once declared the Steward deal as “the real deal” but a change of heart as health minister should have seen him act decisively in favour of the public interest. He did not.
Even when ordinary persons living ordinary lives suspected that something was clearly very wrong with this deal, Fearne kept a straight face and always voted in favour of each annual Vitals payment.
A courageous representative of the people would have publicly denounced the deal. He would have exposed the corruption of his colleagues. He would have resigned from cabinet in protest. Fearne did nothing of the sort.
He was waiting for the collapse of the Muscat government and hoped he could save himself and his party by becoming its new leader.
In 2020, however, Labour opted for a spineless candidate of “continuity” instead of Muscat, much to the disappointment of Fearne.
A court in February 2023 condemned Steward Health Care, which took over the hospitals’ concession from Vitals, as having intended to “unjustly enrich itself at the expense of citizens” and engaging in “possibly criminal behaviour”.
The court annulled the controversial hospitals’ privatisation deal originally signed with Vitals, declaring it to be “fraudulent”, and ordered that St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals be returned to the government within three months.
The “real deal” was now dead. So, what could motivate Steward to allegedly pay CT Group to attack Fearne? Why Fearne and not Robert Abela? Or both?
Today, all that Steward has is a secret letter signed and given to them in 2018 by Muscat’s star minister, Konrad Mizzi. On paper, it’s worth €100 million. In reality, it’s worth nothing but they are suing us for it in an arbitration process.
So, the forgotten question is: “What motive or commercial interest did the known and unknown owners of Steward, whoever they may be, have in May 2023, after Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale’s court judgment, to sabotage Fearne’s political future and to bury his leadership ambitions?”