Updated at 4.40pm with Grech comments
A court has allowed the government to intervene in a case instituted by the Nationalist Party against the State Advocate in connection with the hospitals concession.
Quoting from various case law related to the acceptance of a party to the case, Mr Justice Toni Abela ruled that since the case mentioned two members of the cabinet – Prime Minister Robert Abela and former Health Minister Chris Fearne – the cabinet had a direct judicial interest in the case and was therefore to be admitted as a party.
The judge read out his decree in the presence of Abela, home affairs minister Byron Camilleri, Opposition leader Bernard Grech and PN MP Adrian Delia.
The case was filed by the Opposition in a bid to recoup the money "defrauded" by Steward Healthcare in the hospitals' deal.
The 2015 deal that saw the running of three hospitals - St Luke’s, Karin Grech and the Gozo General - passed on to the private sector was annulled by a court last year, and confirmed on appeal.
Vitals Global Healthcare initially ran the hospitals and the concession was later taken over by Steward Health Care.
The original judgment described the contract as fraudulent while the Appeals Court also founds signs that top government officials had colluded against the national interest.
Grech and Delia last year asked the court to order the State Advocate to take action against “present and past government officials involved in the [hospitals privatisation] deal”.
In his decree on Friday, the judge quoted legal papers, including in the Italian language, that detailed where a party ought to be admitted to a case.
Among others, it must be proven that the party requesting to be admitted should have an interest in the entire case and not just over the final result of the case in question.
He insisted that justice had to be done with all parties involved in the case. In this case, he said, the opposition was claiming that the government went beyond its powers.
The court also delved into the timing of such a request to intervene in a case, saying the local courts always distinguished between cases which were still at their initial stages and those cases which are at their later stages.
Since this case was still in its initial phases, the court was allowing the cabinet to intervene as a party.
Lawyers Edward DeBono and Nicholas DeBono are representing Grech and Delia.Lawyers James D'Agostino and Julian Farrugia are representing the State Advocate.Lawyers Chris Cilia, Ian Borg and Maurizio Cordina are representing the government and the Cabinet.
Bernard Grech: Government trying to stop this case
Instead of joining its court case to try and recoup the €400 million given to Vitals and Steward, the government was now trying to stop it, PN leader Bernard Grech said following the court decision.
Grech said the court had chastised the government to stop its continued attack on the judiciary by highlighting the “colourful language” used by the state advocate in a recent court application.
“Contrary to what Robert Abela says, the government has repeatedly sought to pressure and attack the judiciary,” Grech said.
Grech was accompanied by PN secretary general Michael Piccinino, shadow health minister Adrian Delia and lawyer Edward Debono.