Updated 5.20pm with Muscat rebuttal
Chris Fearne refused to guarantee Joseph Muscat immunity and keep Steward healthcare in Malta, Jason Azzopardi has claimed.
Fearne's refusal would go on to ultimately cost him the Labour leadership, which he lost to Robert Abela in January 2020, the former PN MP argued.
In an interview scheduled to air on Thursday evening on Smash TV, Azzopardi recounted an anecdote in which he claimed Fearne, a former deputy prime minister, revealed Muscat had asked him for these two guarantees.
But Muscat denied he made the demands. In a two-word statement to Times of Malta, the former prime minister said Azzopardi's claims were "total hogwash".
Azzopardi claimed Fearne told him he refused to accede to Muscat's request. Muscat then actively worked against Fearne's candidacy during the Labour leadership race.
Speaking on the programme Kullħadd Jgħid Tiegħu, Azzopardi told host Emmy Bezzina that Fearne had relayed the information during a private conversation some months after that 2020 leadership race.
Times of Malta has reached out to Fearne about the claims but no reply was forthcoming at the time of publication.
Jason Azzopardi revealed his conversation with Chris Fearne from four years ago. Photo: Times of MaltaMuscat wanted 'two guarantees'
Azzopardi recalled that in November 2019, the arrest of Yorgen Fenech and Keith Schembri had triggered daily mass protests which ultimately led to Muscat resigning as prime minister the following month.
“Everybody knew that up until the first week or two of January, all the surveys showed that Chris Fearne was leading that race and had a healthy advantage on the other contender, Robert Abela,” Azzopardi said.
Azzopardi went on to claim that during this conversation, Fearne admitted that he had met with Muscat during the leadership campaign and that the former prime minister had asked him for “two guarantees”.
“He (Fearne) told me that Muscat wanted two things. That if he wins the leadership race and becomes prime minister, Steward must remain in Malta, which he told me that his reply to this request was ‘forget it’,” Azzopardi said.
“The second request was a guarantee that justice would not touch Joseph Muscat,” he continued.
“Chris told me his reply to that was nż*****,” Azzopardi concluded, quoting a coarse Maltese word that roughly translates to “absolutely not”.
'All out' for Abela
Following this meeting with Muscat, Azzopardi claims that Fearne told him Muscat and his wife Michelle started working “all out” to get Robert Abela elected.
“He told me... ‘I’m not prime minister because of Steward, because otherwise I would have been prime minister’,” Azzopardi said, allegedly quoting Fearne.
Azzopardi said he was revealing this anecdote four years after the fact because, despite political disagreement, when it comes to telling the truth, all must “rise above and not be afraid”, Azzopardi said.
The former Nationalist MP said he is willing to relay his claims in court under oath.
Robert Abela's first speech as Labour leader in January 2020. Photo: Matthew MirabelliFearne, who served as health minister between 2016 and January 2024 and was named as Malta’s chosen nomination for a European Commissioner post, resigned in May, after state prosecutors filed fraud charges against him, in what was considered to be a second-tier round of arraignments surrounding the hospitals privatisation deal.
Earlier this month, Times of Malta revealed how Fearne was the target of a smear campaign that was part of a €6.5 million secret operation authorised by Steward to target their perceived opponents in Malta and abroad.
The deal to sign over three state hospitals to Vitals, which was later handed over to Steward Healthcare was found to be “fraudulent” by a court and the deal was thrown out. This sentence was confirmed on appeal.
Muscat, Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi are among a swathe of others charged with corruption, bribery, trading in influence, money laundering and other serious crimes concerning the annulled deal.
They all deny the charges.