Former EU Health Commissioner John Dalli has confirmed he introduced a key player in the Vitals hospitals scandal to Joseph Muscat.
Fielding questions during a press conference, Dalli said he first met Vitals fixer Shaukat Ali in Libya.
Investigators believe it was Dalli who introduced Ali to the former prime minister. Soon after, Ali described himself as an “unofficial adviser” to Muscat.
Dalli said Ali, along with many other Libyan nationals, contacted him for help during the 2011 Libya revolution.
“I helped him, like I helped many others, including ex-ministers. I found schools for his children, I found a place for him to live. Once we were at a wedding. There was Joe Muscat there as well. And I introduced him to Joe Muscat. So f****** what?,” Dalli told reporters.
Ali, along with Muscat, have both been charged with corruption over a 2015 deal that saw the ex-prime minister’s government hand over the running of three public hospitals to inexperienced investors.
Dalli said on Tuesday that he cut ties with Ali after he became “very, very, very friendly” with Muscat’s right-hand man Keith Schembri.
Schembri is also charged over the Vitals scandal.
Dalli refused to elaborate on why Ali’s friendship with Schembri was cause for concern.
“I have a level of intelligence, OK?,” he said.
Months after resigning as EU commissioner in 2012 over bribery claims, Dalli was invited by Muscat to draw up a report about public healthcare in Malta.
Dalli denied knowing that Ali too had plans for healthcare in Malta.
The ex-EU commissioner said his advice on how to improve healthcare were never taken up by Muscat, just like it was never taken up by ex-prime minister Lawrence Gonzi.
“They were afraid to make the changes. I believe the way the hospitals are run, being the anterooms of the doctors’ private clinics is not the proper way,” Dalli said.
Dalli was charged with attempted bribery and trading in influence over an alleged €60 million bribe by his former aide to help influence EU tobacco legislation in 2012.
He denies wrongdoing, and claims the charges against him were concocted by his political enemies.