A court of appeal has turned down a request by Steward Health Care Malta for a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice following the civil court judgment which annulled the hospitals privatisation deal.
The February judgment by the First Hall, Civil Court had declared that the concession for the running of the Gozo General Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech hospital was tainted by fraud at every stage of the process.
Consequently, the concession was annulled and the hospitals were returned to the government. The case was instituted by former Opposition Leader Adrian Delia who had waged a five-year legal battle against the deal.
Following that judgment, Steward Health Care Malta issued a statement whereby it emphatically rejected the court’s conclusions based, it said, on an assessment which was not supported by evidence.
The company subsequently filed an appeal and also requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice, claiming that the judgment cancelling the concession undermined the rule of law and spelt “serious implications for the future of foreign investment in the country.”
Steward Malta also requested authorisation from the court to present new documentation as part of its appeal.
That request was objected to by the government and by Delia.
In a series of decrees handed down on Tuesday the Court of Appeal, presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti and Justices Giannino Caruana Demajo and Anthony Ellul, turned down Steward’s request for the preliminary reference to the European Court.
When there's a preliminary reference, the Maltese court forwards a set of questions to be answered by the European Court of Justice (as requested by Steward in this case). The court said that in this case the answers sought were not necessary for its own decision.
Request for submission of new documents refused
The court also turned down the request by Steward Malta Assets Ltd, Steward Malta Ltd and Steward Malta Management Ltd to present new documents, stating that those documents were not relevant to the merits of the claim and the decision of the first court.
In a separate decree, the court likewise turned down a request by the Prime Minister, the Attorney General, INDIS and the Lands Authority to produce documents relating to circumstances which arose after the first court’s judgment.
Such documents referred to circumstances which were not strictly related to the applicant’s claims and did not impinge upon the merits of the case. the court said.
The court upheld a request by Steward Health Care International, a Spanish-registered company, to present documents to prove its interest in intervening at appeal stage.
The court made it clear that it was only accepting those documents in so far as they were strictly related to proving the company’s interest to intervene.
These preliminary decisions were handed down prior to the hearing of the appeal later this month.
Lawyers Edward DeBono and Nicholas DeBono assist Delia.