“Oh what authority and show of truth can cunning sin cover itself withal”. They say that there is a Shakespeare quote for everything and this one from Much Ado about Nothing sums up Labour’s reaction to the opposition’s motion calling for the termination of the hospital concession agreement.

What is the sin, what is the truth in the Vitals deal? I think by now we are all aware of the sins surrounding this deal. This deal was concocted in secret, abusively signed and failed completely in execution. This is not a matter of opinion. It is a fact that a secret memorandum of understanding was signed with Vitals months before government issued the call for expression of interest.

It is a fact that Vitals were awarded the contract despite their lack of financial backing and experience in the health sector. It is a fact that no due diligence was carried out on Vitals despite the nature and magnitude of the contract awarded. It is a fact that Vitals and subsequently Steward failed to deliver on their obligations.

It is a fact that government amended the contract on more than one occasion to favour the private contractor. First, by removing the obligation for a performance guarantee bond and subsequently with the inclusion of a termination clause that will see Steward benefitting from a €100 million payout if the contract is terminated.

Rather than dispute these facts, government tried to make a “show of truth”. Government ministers, particularly Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna and Prime Minister Abela tried to twist facts and obscure the truth in a desperate attempt to escape the inevitable conclusion.

The logical conclusion to the above facts is that the contract should be rescinded without further ado. There are enough reasons to justify the termination of the contract and to sue the contractor for non-performance. Any lawyer worth his salt will tell you that. Any politician worth his salt will tell you that these failures call for political responsibility to be carried.

Judging by its poor performance in parliament, government is absolutely not interested in carrying this responsibility. No one from government benches condemned the illogically and ill-timed introduction of the termination clause. Not one government speaker condemned Vitals and Steward for their failure to deliver on their obligations.

No one from the government benches condemned Konrad Mizzi for his shady handling of this concession agreement. Incidentally, Konrad Mizzi did not even turn up for a parliamentary session that was discussing one of his messes.

Scicluna failed to grasp the last opportunity he had to be on the right side in this affair

Instead of doing the honourable and logical things they chose to deviate by referring for instance to an auditor general’s report on the Mater Dei hospital. On this point, I hope that the auditor general, in the interest of protecting the good name of his office, investigates whether it was purely coincidental that the Mater Dei report was issued on the eve of this debate. The unfortunate timing of the release of this report raises doubts which I feel ought to be addressed. That said, as an opposition, we will not shy away from any discussion in parliament about Mater Dei. Mater Dei brought a paradigm shift in healthcare in Malta.

It is thanks to Mater Dei, and certainly not to Vitals or Steward, that Malta is being successful in its fight against COVID-19.

I have on many occasions highlighted minister Edward Scicluna’s failures in the Vitals affair. He reneged on his duties to ensure a fair, open and transparent public procurement process. He failed to ensure that the private contractor was in fact delivering the contracted goods and services before approving payments. In parliament, minister Scicluna did not address these shortcomings. He again tried to deflect his responsibility by saying that all payments were approved by parliament and not his ministry. This is another “show of truth”, another mockery of the truth.

Edward Scicluna, as Minister of Finance, is the minister responsible for bringing money bills for parliamentary consideration. Scicluna asked parliament to approve payments to Vitals and Steward.

As an opposition, we voted against but the vote was carried because of government’s majority. Scicluna voted in favour of these payments despite knowing that Vitals and Steward Health Care were not carrying out their contracted obligations. He should man-up and assume responsibility instead of playing the blame game.

Minister Scicluna stated in parliament that it is of no concern to him that Ram Tumuluri CEO of the now defunct, bankrupt and renegade Vitals received a bonus of €5 million. He should be concerned. That bonus was paid out of our taxpayers money when Vitals was raking up debts, debts which became Steward’s responsibility when it took over control of Vitals. If the contract is terminated by government, those debts will be taken over by government as a result of the secret agreement signed last August, even if the contractor is in default of its obligations. Scicluna in parliament did not confirm or deny this. He spoke with authority on unrelated matters to hide the truth.

But this truth will not remain hidden. And Scicluna last week failed to grasp the last opportunity he had to be on the right side in this affair.

When things go down, he will have only himself to blame.

Mario de Marco, Opposition spokesman for finance