An evaluation report which former Minister Konrad Mizzi had allegedly used to decide on the hospitals privatisation deal with Vitals Global Healthcare was presented to a court on Monday but will not be made public.
The document was handed over by James Camenzuli, executive chairman and former CEO at Projects Malta while testifying in proceedings instituted by Opposition Leader Adrian Delia against former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the Attorney General, Malta Industrial Parks and VGH.
Dr Delia is calling for Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo hospitals to be “given back to the people” because contract conditions had not been fully abided by.
Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale said the report should only be made available to the parties in the case. Dr Delia argued that was a prerogative of PM not court. But Victoria Buttigieg, representing the Attorney General, said that this was not a privileged document. The judge said that he had the prerogative to issue an order for the document to be accessible only to the parties.
The report had been mentioned by former minister Mizzi when testifying in November, minutes before tendering his resignation. He had said that he relied on the conclusions reached by the evaluation committee when deciding upon the privatization deal with VGH.
That report, dated June 19, 2015, had been based on the detailed Request For Proposals (RFP), issued by Projects Malta. The technical aspects had been analyzed by the late Charles Griscti, while the financial analysis had been handled by accountants Emanuel Castagna and Robert Borg, Mr Camenzuli explained.
Asked by lawyer Edward Debono, assisting the Opposition leader, the witness said that at the time of that evaluation process, Projects Malta was represented by William Wait.
The case was adjourned to March to give the parties time to go through the report.
Lawyer Jason Azzopardi is also assisting Dr Delia. Lawyer Victoria Buttigieg is assisting the AG.