The men running Vitals, Steward and a company linked to payments to Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi are among a third lot of 34 individuals slated to face criminal charges over the hospitals deal.

Investigators have recommended charges against Shaukat Ali Chaudhry, the man who is believed to have been secretly running Vitals, Sri Ram Tumuluri and Mark Edward Pawley, its managing directors, Armin Ernst, CEO of Vitals and later president of Steward, Ralph De La Torre, CEO of Steward and Attaul Wasay Bhatti, the owner of Accutor AG.

They are expected to face a range of serious criminal charges for alleged money laundering, trading in influence, criminal conspiracy and bribery of Muscat, Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.

The six and a further 28 other people, from their family members to their business partners and employees, are a third group of people lined up to face serious criminal charges. All those cited in the third lot of charges are believed to live overseas. 

Investigators have also singled out 31 companies which these people owned or were legal representatives of, including Vitals Global Healthcare Limited, Steward Healthcare International Limited and Accutor Consulting AG. The first group of 11 individuals, including the former prime minister, Schembri and Mizzi will be arraigned on Tuesday accused of money laundering and other major crimes.

A second group of 14 people, including former deputy prime minister Chris Fearne and Central Bank governor Edward Scicluna will be charged in court on Wednesday. 

They are all expected to plead not guilty when they appear in court.

It follows the conclusion of a mammoth magisterial inquiry into the hospitals deal, which was concluded last month and sent to the attorney general’s office.

The attorney general’s office has already told NGO Repubblika that all the people mentioned by the inquiring magistrate will be charged.

Investigators recommended that Chaudhry, Tumuluri, Pawley, Ernst, De Le Torre and Bhatti be charged with criminal conspiracy, trading in influence, misappropriation, fraud, money laundering and for allegedly bribing Muscat and Mizzi – as both public officials and members of parliament – and Schembri.

They also want Chaudhry, Tumuluri, De La Torre and Bhatti to be charged for alleged active involvement in a criminal organisation.

They also recommended that Chaudhry and Tumuluri should be charged with making fraudulent gain and obtaining money by false pretences and that Tumuluri, Pawley and Ernst for alleged document forgery and – in Pawley’s case – for allegedly making a false statement in a public document.

Investigators also believe Chaudhry should be charged for allegedly promoting an organisation to commit a crime and for complicity in crime  and Tumuluri for alleged fraud to the detriment of the tax commissioner.

The 28 others are slated to face similar charges.

Vitals Global Healthcare had won the 30-year, €4 billion contract to operate Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo General hospitals during Muscat’s tenure – a contract which was later handed to Steward Health Care. 

Accutor Consulting, previously called Vitals Global Healthcare Europe, was the company that later wired two €15,000 payments to Muscat as part of a consultancy contract that was supposed to have totalled €540,000 but was cut short. 

The National Audit Office and a civil court both concluded Vitals should have been disqualified from bidding for the hospitals concession because it had secretly negotiated the deal with the Maltese government before tendering began. The entire concession was repealed and annulled by a judge in 2023 and is now the subject of a raft of criminal prosecutions against a series of politicians, lawyers and accountants involved in the deal.