There is no documented legal advice about the Vitals hospital concession in the prime minister’s office, according to Robert Abela.

The Prime Minister was replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Mark-Anthony Sammut on Monday.

Sammut asked Abela to table a copy of the legal advice that former PM Joseph Muscat claimed to have received while setting up the deal and discussing it with cabinet.  

“There is no legal advice along those lines in the prime minister’s office. I confirm that I had no role in the concessions or agreements that took place with Vitals Global Healthcare” was Abela’s reply.

Speaking to Times of Malta shortly after courts annulled the deal on the grounds of fraud, Muscat had said all decisions linked to the deal were endorsed by cabinet, with legal advice also being sought.

Writing on Facebook, Muscat later insisted that "cabinet has always had an established system of legal scrutiny for all decisions that are taken".  

Former Minister Evarist Bartolo, a member of the Muscat cabinet, had previously hit back at Muscat's claim, saying "the hospital deal details were not discussed in cabinet and the devil is in the details”.

When pressed on whether this advice was sought from Abela, who has previously served as legal advisor to cabinet, Muscat failed to reply.

Abela has repeatedly denied any involvement in the deal, arguing that it was signed before he took office and that he was only elected to parliament for the first time 15 months after the agreement was signed.

Opposition leader Bernard Grech has pushed back against this argument, saying that Abela served as Muscat’s legal adviser at the time when the deal was signed.

Abela was appointed legal adviser in June 2017, when Muscat announced his new cabinet following his general election victory. At the end of that year, the government announced that it had approved Vitals' sale of its concession to Steward Health Care.