Updated 2.50pm with PN reaction
Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti has abstained from hearing a case filed by the Opposition concerning the concession of three public hospitals because his partner is appearing as a curator on behalf of Steward Healthcare.
The Nationalist Party has taken legal action to get the State Advocate to recover the funds defrauded out of public coffers in the hospitals’ privatization deal.
The judge was expected to deliver a decree on Monday, stating whether the government and cabinet were authorised to intervene in the suit.
But the judge instead delivered a decree in chambers explaining that he would be recusing himself from the case because his partner, lawyer Yanika Bugeja, had been appointed to act as curator representing one of Steward Health Care's Maltese firms in a separate case.
The judge said he had learnt of his partner's involvement in the contract on January 18.
Bugeja represented Steward Malta Assets Limited on a deed of recission of ground rent for land related to the hospitals.
The contract of recession was signed last Friday, January 19.
Since Steward was among those named by the Opposition in their application when filing this case - as people to be sued for damages - his partner’s appointment as curator gave rise to a situation which impeded him from continuing to preside over the case.
This was in line with the established principle that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done, he said.
Steward Health Care exited Malta earlier this year after a court ruled that contracts they took over to run three state hospitals were fraudulent and had not been honoured.
That landmark judgement came in a case filed by PN MP and former leader Adrian Delia. The PN is now seeking to force the government, through the courts, to recoup millions paid to Steward and the original concessionaire, Vitals Global Healthcare.
Steward, on the other hand, wants the Maltese government to pay it a €100 million termination fee it had obtained through a side-letter signed by then-minister Konrad Mizzi.
The healthcare company and government are battling the issue in a secretive arbitration court in Paris called the International Chamber of Commerce. A decision is only likely in 2025.
In a statement, PN leader Bernard Grech said he respected the decision of the judge and would "continue to fight to return the people's money".