Back in time public projects were public funded and private ones were funded privately. Governments provided the public services, both the essential and the non-essential.

The development of the ‘public private’ concept was based on the idea that the joint resourcing of financial and technical expertise could deliver a more efficient service. The reasoning was that the private investor is an effective control over the traditional waste spending of government. In theory, it made some sense.

But, in 2013, things went into flip mode. A shady prime minister and his mates saw an opportunity they could not afford to miss. The suspicion is they found the way to make hidden commissions. Their main target was the energy sector.

Till then, the national grid was 100 per cent public owned. When international fuel prices reached record levels, the government, that is, Enemalta, partially subsidised the cost to the consumer. A cheaper and cleaner source of energy was looked at and public funds were used to instal the mainland interconnector.

But before you could say “prosit ministru”, Labour sold 33 per cent of our national grid to dubious Chinese interests. It claimed that Enemalta, and the country itself, was bankrupt. The BWSC plant, which they called a “cancer factory”, was sold outright, as is, to private foreign interests along with a contract of supply which guaranteed minimum standby profits that would redeem their investment within a few short years.

Needless to say, as fuel prices dropped by 75 per cent, Labour passed less than 25 per cent of the drop to the consumer and, like all third-rate actors, wanted to be congratulated for it.

While this was happening, there were secret high-level trips to Baku and to Dubai. Accountants at NexiaBT were setting up secret companies in Panama and Dubai for the projects minister, the prime minister’s chief of staff, for the other players in the deal and for another “more important person”.

Vitals was a mega-million heist planned to last at least 33 years, till Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat’s 80th birthday- Eddie Aquilina

Stop and think. But for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s work, today in 2023, Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri are still in Castille. But for Daphne, the national debt would have tripled by now and not just doubled under Labour. 

Wind farms and solar farms came next.

Recently, we saw the inauguration of a new €1.6 million solar farm on top of Ta’ Qali water reservoir that generates enough electricity for 365 households. Well done to the Water Services Corporation.

But, strangely, despite the modest outlay, it’s a “public-private” venture with the Malta Developers Association. Nothing was said about the financials. Did the WSC or did the MDA fork out the money? Who gets the returns? Wait for the usual “commercially sensitive” non-replies.

Their other fat target was the people’s health services. Vitals was a mega-million heist planned to last at least 33 years, till Mizzi and Muscat’s 80th birthday. We must not forget that Labour made the deal with a known fraudster, one Ram Tumuluri, a man already facing criminal fraud charges in Canada and whose only medical experience was an occasional visit to his family doctor. Till this very day, we don’t know the identity of all who were involved with VGH. We don’t even know all who are behind Steward.

For eight long years, Labour pumped some €390 million of taxpayers’ money into these unknown experts who, as a parting gift, left us with €80 million in bad debts, unpaid taxes and a Bank of Valletta loan of over €36 million guaranteed by the public. Meanwhile, Tumuluri runs off with €5 million. Steward pays Accutor. Accutor pays Muscat a consultancy fee.

Robert Abela is no fool. He could not hide his anger at an opposition that had managed to get a court judgment, thus preventing further abuse. In 2017, still wearing glasses, he told us that the public was getting “value for money”.

And he is weak. He knows that the public can see, touch and get real health services at Mater Dei Hospital, a hospital, state-of-the-art, built and furnished in 2007 with less money than was stolen from us in this classic scam under Labour.

All he can do is rehash, repeat and regurgitate a broken promise made in 2015 to the Gozitans that, in two years they would have a new hospital.