Health Minister Chris Fearne on Tuesday provided few answers as to where the millions paid by the government to Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) went.

Despite a concession agreement which tied the government to forking out around €70 million annually to the company, questions have been raised about what VGH actually did with the money.

The local companies behind VGH have never posted any accounts with the MFSA.

Asked what became of all this money, Mr Fearne said the payments to VGH were “transparent”.

He said the National Audit Office was investigating the deal.

Read: Financial scrutiny of Vitals to remain secret

VGH was supposed to invest over €200 million in the Gozo, St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals.

The company pulled out of the concession in December 2017. It was taken over by Steward Healthcare, in what Mr Fearne had heralded as “the real deal”.

Read: €80m have to be given to VGH for return of two hospitals

Mr Fearne said on Tuesday that Steward had invested €20 million but answers about what VGH had done with taxpayer’s money were in short supply.

The deputy Prime Minister walked off when asked further about the matter.

The Shift News said last week that millions changed hands behind closed doors when Steward bought the concession from VGH for €1.