Health Minister Konrad Mizzi has reappointed the Mater Dei Hospital inquiry board headed by former judge Philip Sciberras after receiving new evidence.

Dr Mizzi yesterday said the government had received fresh “documentary evidence” related to the weak concrete structures at the hospital and as a result re-appointed the inquiry board.

The report was tabled in Parliament last Monday and forwarded to the police and Attorney General for further investigation.

This is the second time that evidence emerged after the inquiry ended. On Monday evening, after the report was tabled in Parliament, judge Sciberras received a list of e-mail transactions from the lawyer of former Foundation for Medical Services head Paul Camilleri. The e-mails did not alter the substance of the inquiry conclusions and were forwarded to the police and AG.

It is unclear what the new evidence consists of but the government yesterday came in for harsh criticism from the Nationalist Party that argued it should have been forwarded directly to the police.

The PN accused the government of trying to buy time by re-opening an inquiry, adding, in disparaging language, that it was being led by “former Labour MP Philip Sciberras and his son Alex, the Labour deputy mayor of Msida”.

Meanwhile, former Nationalist minister Louis Galea yesterday denied knowledge of what he described as “the fraudulent certification” of concrete at Mater Dei Hospital.

Dr Galea headed the Foundation for Medical and Social Services when the defective concrete was cast in 1996. He was health minister until the October 1996 general election that led to a change in administration.

In a statement to rebut the conclusions of the inquiry, Dr Galea refuted any implication that he may have acted improperly or in an illegal way.

“No collusion at all ever existed by myself, or to my knowledge by the members of the FMSS board at the time I was involved, in any improper or illegal act as the report attempts to imply in conclusion five of its report,” Dr Galea said.

He insisted that the government and FMSS board acted diligently and as reasonably and objectively as possible to ensure an adequate control framework was in place and implemented.

Dr Galea said he fully supported all endeavours to hold those responsible to account for any fraudulent actions in the supply or testing of poor quality concrete.

“Fraud by its very nature is intended to deceive or override controls and should be unreservedly pursued. As a result, responsibility in this case should be borne by those allegedly involved in the fraudulent supply or testing of poor quality concrete.”

The inquiry found that three reports outlining problems with the construction of Mater Dei Hospital prior to the 1996 election were ignored by the health authorities.

The reports included a confidential memo sent in September of that year to Dr Galea. Two other former Nationalist Cabinet members, John Rizzo Naudi and Antoine Mifsud Bonnici, also sat on the board of the FMSS and were privy to the reports.

The inquiry concluded it would be “naive” to consider that the government “did not know or could not have known of the dire state that the project was in” given the presence of three Cabinet members on the FMSS board.

But Dr Galea yesterday insisted he had reservations on the inquiry, on the lack of evidence backing up certain statements made by a number of witnesses, and the evidence backing up certain conclusions expressed by the board.