A single case against more than a dozen people charged with crimes in relation to the deal to privatise state hospitals has been split into six separate ones.
Prosecutors told a court on Friday that they wanted to split up cases against former ministers Chris Fearne and Edward Scicluna, various former civil servants, lawyers and others.
Defence lawyers backed the request, and Magistrate Leonard Caruana quickly accepted it. He will continue to hear all six cases.
The decision effectively reverses prosecutors’ initial decision to press charges against the group jointly, as part of one massive criminal case.
Fearne, Scicluna and other defendants are pleading not guilty to various charges related to the now-annulled deal to hand three state hospitals over to private investors Vitals Global Healthcare and later Steward Healthcare.
Another group of defendants charged with more serious crimes and which includes former prime minister Joseph Muscat are being tried jointly in a separate case. It remains unclear whether prosecutors would also like to split that case into various smaller ones.
How prosecutors split the cases
Fearne, a former health minister and deputy prime minister who remains on the Labour backbench, will now appear in court alongside his former cabinet colleague Edward Scicluna, Malta's currently suspended central bank governor.
Three former civil servants – Alfred Camilleri, Joseph Rapa and Ronald Mizzi – who are facing charges will be tried together in a second case.
A third case will focus on defendants Kenneth Deguara, Kevin Deguara, Jean Carl Farrugia and Deborah Anne Chappell, as well as DF Advocates, the firm they worked for at the time of the alleged crimes.
Bradley Gatt, a lawyer who also worked at DF Advocates, will be tried separately, in a fourth criminal case.
A fifth case will target defendants Aron Mifsud Bonnici and Manuel Castagna, with a sixth case focused on defendants James Camenzuli and Robert Borg.
Court agency asked experts to find a cheaper hotel
Prosecutors announced their intention to separate the criminal case into six smaller ones at the tail-end of a sitting that was mostly taken up with the testimony of Bernice Bugeja, the financial controller of the Court Services Agency.
Bugeja presented invoices sent in by forensic experts working for Harbinson Forensics, a firm engaged by the inquiring magistrate to conduct forensic accounting investigations into the hospitals deal.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Franco Debono, Bugeja told the court that experts billed the agency at rates of up to £230 (€270) per hour, with the agency also covering VAT costs.
Harbinson Forensics billed the agency £46,919 for work by its experts between September 12 and 18, 2022, she confirmed when presented with a receipt.
When asked if she was aware that the UK-based company was now in liquidation, the witness said she had learnt about that from media reports.
She told the court that experts were initially staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s while in Malta. They switched accommodation to the cheaper Floriana-based Hotel Excelsior after the Court Services Agency flagged their accommodation costs as excessive, she testified.
Bugeja said she approved payments provided the magistrate endorsed the invoice. She did not check whether the amounts requested were justified, she said, confirming there was no mechanism or provision for experts' invoices being scrutinised or assessed.
Defence lawyer Giannella De Marco asked the witness whether, as financial controller, she was responsible for ensuring requests for payment by court experts were legitimate and justified.
The witness reiterated that once she received the go-ahead from a magistrate, she would proceed to payment without further checks.
Police Inspector Wayne Borg led the prosecution with the help of Attorney General lawyers Francesco Refalo, Rebecca Spiteri and Shelby Aquilina.
Lawyers Giannella De Marco, Franco Debono, Charles Mercieca, Stefano Filletti, Stephen Tonna Lowell, Arthur Azzopardi, Ezekiel Psaila, Jonathan Thompson, Michael Sciriha, Franco Galea are representing the defendants.