Steward Healthcare has ordered its employees not to show up for any meetings organised by the government, in the latest development in the tumultuous takeover saga.

In an email sent out on Thursday, Steward president Nadine Delicata and Chief Transition Officer Miroslav Boyanov informed employees that the government was unlawfully attempting to begin taking over the hospitals and had started to call employees into meetings.

“Steward has already informed the government that should it persist with this behaviour, Steward will take legal action”

“As Steward employees and officials you should therefore not attend any meetings called by the Government of Malta [...] unless specifically authorised to do so by Steward,” they said, adding that employees should inform the company via email if they receive requests for such meetings from government officials.

Government seeking to recover funds

The government and Steward Healthcare have been at each other’s throats since earlier this month, when Prime Minister Robert Abela said the government would seek to recover funds given to Steward for investment which was not realised.

Four days later Steward went to war, telling the government it would be pulling out of Malta. It submitted a termination notice due to “non-rectifiable defaults on the part of the government” and said “the operating environment and investment climate in Malta is not conducive for foreign companies to have a constructive partnership with the government”.

Then last Tuesday the government fired back, sending a termination letter to Steward, informing it that it was stepping in immediately to run the three state hospitals.

The healthcare giant was served with a notice that the government would be carrying out a “control step-in”, which effectively means that the state was rejecting the termination conditions which Steward sought to impose a week earlier when it informed the government it would be quitting.

In doing this the government was also aiming to avoid a €100 million payment that Steward wants to enforce for having its deal to run the hospitals cancelled early.

'No lawful basis' for government's actions

But on Thursday, Steward told its employees it has “denied and rejected” the control step-in notice and the termination notice, and the government’s attempts to interfere with the takeover have “no lawful basis”. 

“The control step-in notice and the termination notice are invalid and of no effect, and therefore the government’s purported rights to interfere with Steward’s rights has no lawful basis,” it said. 

“Steward has already informed the government that should it persist with this behaviour, Steward will take legal action, will seek the protection of the police and will hold the government liable for any losses, damages or other prejudicial consequences.”

A court last month annulled the concession agreement through which Vitals Global Healthcare and later Steward took over the management of the hospitals.

Steward has appealed that verdict, arguing that it was defrauded by the Maltese government and punished by a biased court.