Crowds gathered in Valletta on Sunday afternoon to take part in a PN protest urging the government to recover the money spent on the hospitals' deal annulled by the courts.

Many carried placards calling for the government to recover the "stolen" money while others carried Maltese flags.

“They invested nothing. They did nothing… and they took €400 million from your taxes,” PN MP and former party leader Adrian Delia said to applause.

On Monday, a court of appeal confirmed the annulment of the deal that had seen the government hand over the reins of three Maltese hospitals in 2015 to Vitals Global Healthcare, a private company.

While the original judgement in February described the deal as “fraudulent”, Steward – who took over the deal in 2018 – appealed the decision, arguing that it had itself been defrauded by the Maltese government.

The appeal confirmed the original decision but shifted some of the blame onto the government, stating that it found "collusion" between the parties.

PN leader Bernard Grech gave police commissioner Angelo Gafà a three-day ultimatum to take action in light of the hospital appeals court ruling.

“I am issuing this warning today. Police commissioner, you have three days. If you don’t take clear action within three days, we will once again go to court. If you don’t want to do your job, we will once again do our job ourselves... A coalition is uniting in this country, there is a movement to move to a country free of Castille’s mafia."

Grech said money had been stolen from patients, from the sick and the vulnerable.

"How can you steal from the vulnerable,” Grech asked.

Grech condemned the government’s role in the annulled deal, saying that those currently in power are trying to shrug off responsibility.

Bernard Grech addressing the crowd. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Listing the names of those involved, and which the judgment named, Grech said that Abela would not accept responsibility despite being Muscat’s advisor when the deal was signed.

“Have you ever heard of the word "accomplice" being used for something nice,” Grech told the crowd.

“The truth will prevail and it will be victorious,” he said.

In a 99-page decision, a civil court partially upheld Steward Health Care’s appeal in terms of expenses, but rejected other arguments made by the healthcare giant.

People in the crowd greeting Adrian Delia, who had instigated the court case. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

"The facts show that they failed their duty to the country, they did not seek the remedies they should have sought and it had to be the plaintiff [Delia] to take the initiative to seek those remedies in the national interest," the court said.

The court ruled that government representatives named in the case – which included Joseph Muscat as then-Prime Minister, the Attorney General and heads of INDIS and the Lands Authority – must join Steward in paying for court expenses.

“The court of appeals condemned all of you as responsible for the biggest fraud in our country’s history,” Delia said. 

Asking the crowd to take their phones out and calculate the amount that was lost due to the deal, Delia read out a section of the court’s judgement.

“What does it come to? Over €400 million,” he said, as the crowd booed.

Adrian Delia addressing the crowd. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The protesters included EP President Roberta Metsola, who listened to the speeches and greeted the crowd.

Before the protest began, one person set up a stand with blank pieces of white card and markers for people to create their own signs.

“They were written by different people,” Franco Spiteri said from behind the stand, pointing to a series of hand-written slogans. 

On the table, sitting underneath a statue of late Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, were copies of Karol Aquilina’s book L-Akbar Frodi. 

“Instead of printing the same signs, people can express themselves,” Spiteri said. 

“I am here because of the corruption in our country,” said Gaitana Cauchi, a sign from the stand reading 'Robbers with our money,'  in her hand. 

“The corruption is coming from the government and the prime minister. It’s coming for everywhere,” she added. 

‘Fraudulent’ hospitals deal

In 2015, Vitals global Healthcare was selected as the winning bidder to run St Luke's, Karin Grech and Gozo General Hospital.

Many carried Malta flags. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

At the time, the company had an unclear ownership structure and no track record in business or healthcare.

Steward took over the deal in November 2018, buying out Vitals and its contracts. 

As promises to revamp the hospitals remained unfulfilled, Delia filed court action to have the contracts annulled.

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

He argued that not only had Vitals and Steward, as its successor on the concession, failed to fulfil its contractual obligations, the deal was also tainted with fraud.

In February, Delia’s worries were vindicated when a court condemned Steward for intending to “unjustly enrich itself at the expense of the government and Maltese and Gozitan citizens”.

Steward appealed that verdict, arguing that it was itself defrauded by the Maltese government, which made promises that it did not fulfil.

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The government has since taken over the running of the three hospitals, following a bitter fallout with Steward. The government did not appeal the judgement.

Steward is also battling the government within an arbitration court - the International Chamber of Commerce - as it believes it is owed a €100 million cancellation fee it obtained through a side letter engineered by then-minister Konrad Mizzi.