The Nationalist Party has filed a police report demanding an investigation into a list of 37 people directly or indirectly involved in the annulled hospital privatisation deal including Prime Minister Robert Abela and his predecessor Joseph Muscat.
In a report filed at the police headquarters in Floriana, PN leader Bernard Grech and PN MPs Adrian Delia, Joe Giglio and Karol Aquilina asked Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà to launch a full-scale investigation following the court’s dramatic ruling in February when it annulled the "fraudulent" privatisation deal for the running of three hospitals.
Delia had led a five-year legal battle against the deal.
The PN listed 37 people who could have either been involved directly or influenced the deal.
hese included: Prime Minister Robert Abela, his predecessor Joseph Muscat; Health Minister Chris Fearne and his predecessor Konrad Mizzi; Finance Minister Clyde Caruana and his predecessor Edward Scicluna; former economy minister Chris Cardona; former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri; Vitals and Steward bosses and investors Ram Tumuluri, Armin Ernst, Mark Edward Pawley, Ashok Rattehalli, Aasia Parveen Shaukat, Asad Shaukat Ali, Shaukat Ali Chaudry, Mohammad Shoaib Walajahi, selection committee members James Camenzuli, Manuel Castagna and Robert Borg, consultant David Galea, Malta Enterprise CEO Mario Galea, permanent secretary Ronald Mizzi, Robert Vella, Peter Mamo and companies Bluestone Investments Malta Ltd, Pivot Holdings Ltd, Oxley Capital Group, Malta Industrial Parks Limited now INDIS Malta Ltd, Projects Malta Limited now Malta Strategic Partnership Projects Ltd, Bluestone Special Situations 4 Limited registered in the British Virgin Islands, AGMC Incorporated, Portpool Investments Ltd also registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The judge had ruled that Gozo General Hospital, St Luke's Hospital and Karin Grech should be returned to the government within three months.
In 2017, the hospitals were given to Vitals Global Healthcare, which had no previous experience in managing hospitals. When it failed to live up to its obligations, the concession was handed to US company Steward Healthcare in 2018. Both Vitals and Steward Healthcare were found to have behaved fraudulently in the ruling.
The Nationalist Party said in its report that the police should investigate all those involved in the fraudulent deal including the judgment itself, other reports and also stories published by the media about the privatisation deal.
It quoted the court ruling in which the court stated that it was “really concerned about how persons in charge of the governmental authorities could ever knowingly enter into such onerous obligations”.
The judge had added that he believed there was “fraudulent behaviour and, possibly criminal” both by Steward as it is composed today as well as Vitals, as originally composed, and its investors.
The party said the Auditor General had already conducted two investigations into the deal.