Health Ministry officials never handed the Ombudsman’s office full versions of the Vitals/Steward contracts, ex-health commissioner Charles Messina has said.

Messina, who stepped down from the role last September following a 10-year tenure, expressed his “disappointment” at how the Health Department failed to provide unredacted versions of the contracts.

In his final contribution to the Ombudsman’s annual report for 2022, Messina said the department denied his “repeated requests” for the full contracts.

Messina had first highlighted the dispute with the ministry five years ago.

He had said in the Ombudsman’s annual report for 2017 that the Health Ministry had only sent him redacted versions of the contracts, which were the same ones that were already publicly available as they had been tabled in parliament.

This precluded him from making a “clear and precise assessment” on whether the interests of patients and staff were adequately protected. Messina said this “serious incident” was further aggravated by the fact that the ministry had handed over full versions of the contracts to the National Audit Office.

Messina had also emphasised in his report for 2017 how the transfer of the government concession from Vitals to Steward that year made it all the more important for his office to examine the full contracts which Steward was bound to honour.

A court in February struck down the Vitals/Steward contracts on grounds of fraud.

Vitals was handed the keys to three public hospitals in 2016, despite not having any established track record in healthcare.

The government transferred the concession to American healthcare providers Steward in February 2018.

Former Vitals director Ram Tumuluri has since claimed he was coerced into handing over his shares in Vitals to Steward.

A criminal inquiry into the Vitals/Steward deal has zeroed in on ex-prime minister Joseph Muscat, whose home and office were searched by investigators last year.

Muscat denies any wrongdoing.