Joseph Muscat is back in the spotlight, where he loves to be (‘It was a handover – Muscat turns guns on chamber’s lobbying report’, Times of Malta, September 17).
He’s made it a habit of popping up every so often to harangue, intimidate and bully those exposing or investigating him. This time he singled out the author of a report published by the Chamber of Commerce, David Spiteri Gingell.
In his trademark mockery, Muscat went for the jugular: “Had it not crossed the report author’s mind that I would have attended the meeting as part of a handover from one prime minister to another?”
The chamber’s report lampooned Muscat for attending a meeting between the new prime minister, Robert Abela, and Steward Health Care in January 2020. They pointed to Muscat’s involvement as an example of what should never happen. They named and shamed Muscat for his suspicious meddling in a sordid affair – the Vitals-Steward debacle – even after his disgraceful exit.
Muscat, together with his sidekick, Konrad Mizzi, shamelessly and secretly handed over half our public health service to a company that hadn’t even been set up. The company was registered after Mizzi signed that secret memorandum of understanding. Even worse, the people behind that company had absolutely no experience in healthcare at all.
The chamber’s report was right in boldly stating that Muscat had “no legitimate purpose to be present at the meeting” in 2020.
“His presence could only be explained if he acted as a lobbyist on behalf of Steward Health Care or as a consultant engaged by Steward,” the report concluded.
The report condemned Muscat for failing to declare his massive conflict of interest: he had entered into a consultancy agreement with Accutor AG that Matthew Caruana Galizia claimed was worth €540,000. Muscat received tens of thousands of euros into his BOV account from Accutor. Accutor was paid €3.6 million by Steward Health Care. Accutor subsequently paid Muscat, Ram Tumuluri and VGH shareholder Shaukat Ali and his son millions between them.
But Muscat denied any conflict of interest. His defence? He was not engaged by Steward Malta. No he wasn’t but he sure had an interest in getting his successor to extend the rotten €250 million Steward deal. Otherwise, how could Steward pay Accutor? And then how would Accutor pay Muscat tens of thousands of euros?
Muscat has been allowed to get away with murder. His massive electoral victories and lasting public support despite his multiple flagrant scandals convince him that we’re all idiots. He has no doubt that we’ll take his word that he had no conflict of interest simply because he didn’t sign any contract with Steward.
His biggest joke is that the January 2020 meeting was a handover.
You don’t hand over to your successor in the presence of an interested third party, especially when that party has been siphoning off millions of euros into private companies such as Bluestone Investments, €21 million to be precise (‘Millions of euros shifted out of Vitals on days of government payments, Times of Malta, July 24, 2022).
It’s not a handover when sensitive information of national public interest is discussed in the presence of a company that’s paying millions to the company paying you tens of thousands of euros.
You don’t hand over to your successor in the presence of an interested third party- Kevin Cassar
It’s not a handover when hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money are being drained into a company whose president and former CEO of Vitals sits across the table.
It’s not a handover when Muscat “communicated his wish to see that the privatisation goes on as initially promised” at that meeting (‘Joseph Muscat lobbies Robert Abela to renegotiate Steward hospitals deal’, MaltaToday, January 26, 2020). Especially when that is exactly the opposite of the health minister and deputy prime minister’s view.
You don’t invite the president of Steward to a ‘handover’ where the health minister’s desire to terminate the deal is directly and openly contradicted by former prime minister Muscat. Particularly not when the final say falls to the rookie Abela who’s just managed to deprive his health minister, Chris Fearne, of the premiership, thanks to the backing of Muscat.
If this were a handover, as Muscat now claims, why didn’t he say so in January 2020? One newsroom tried to contact Muscat repeatedly to ask him why he had attended the meeting and in what capacity (‘Muscat’s presence at OPM-Steward Health Care meeting raises eyebrows’, The Malta Independent, January 26, 2020). Muscat refused to take their calls and didn’t bother to reply.
If this were a handover, why didn’t the OPM tell us in 2020? The OPM was asked direct questions by media houses – including what Muscat’s role was at that meeting. The OPM simply confirmed that Muscat was present but refused to answer all other questions, especially what Muscat was doing there.
Besides, that meeting was actually requested by Steward Health Care to secure additional funding. Steward must have been in a panic, watching Muscat forced out of office. They must have dreaded the possibility of Fearne installed at Castille. They must have grabbed the iron while still hot and demanded a meeting while Muscat was still calling the shots. This was no handover.
What is even more depressing is watching the hysterical panic of the chamber on facing the wrath of the bully of Burmarrad. Wetting themselves, the chamber lashed out at Times of Malta for highlighting faithfully what was in their report – that Muscat was up to no good at that meeting.
“Our report mentions several individuals, including politicians on both sides of the house” they protested. Yes, but none of them was prime minister for nine years. None of them squandered millions of taxpayers’ money on Vitals and Steward. None of them earned tens of thousands from a company paid by Steward.
“In the spirit of ethical behaviour that the Malta Chamber advocates,” they preached, highlighting their report’s reference to Muscat was “distortive of the substance of the document”. What wimps!
That is exactly why Muscat continues to bully and intimidate. Because it works. Because institutions like the chamber run scared as soon as the mighty one stirs. Instead of calling out his utter drivel for what it is, they lend him credibility.
This was no handover. The only handover we’ve seen is of hundreds of millions of our money into the pockets of crooks.