Repubblika president Robert Aquilina has told a court why his NGO called for a magisterial inquiry into the controversial hospitals’ privatisation deal, and why it cast suspicion on former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Aquilina took the stand on Tuesday in a constitutional case filed by the former prime minister who is claiming that his fundamental rights would be breached if Magistrate Gabriella Vella continues to handle the inquiry.

He claims that the magistrate “took the side” of her father and brother when she said that their social media comments, being linked to the case, amounted to freedom of speech.

Aquilina said that in its first application filed before the Magistrates’ Courts on May 13, 2019, the group had mentioned facts that revealed a “strong smell of corruption”, indicating “primarily but not exhaustively” four main suspects.

Those were former ministers Edward Scicluna, Chris Cardona and Konrad Mizzi, together with Ivan Vassallo, a manager director at a medical supplier company, Technoline. 

But in that 150-page long application, Repubblika had also mentioned several episodes which, it claimed, cast suspicion upon Muscat and his former chief of staff, Keith Schembri. 

Questioned by Muscat’s lawyer, Charlon Gouder, as to why Repubblika had only named four suspects, Aquilina said that they had based themselves on the information in hand at the time, pointing out further that the information also cast suspicion of criminal wrongdoing by Muscat and Schembri. 

That application was followed up by a second one, dated October 4, 2019. 

There too, the main suspects remained the same but Repubblika had “added on” information revealed by journalists. 

Pressed further to explain how Muscat had been referred to in “the add-ons” Aquilina cited six instances from that court document, pointing out that the three ministers named as “suspects” were part of Muscat’s cabinet. 

Muscat features six times in application triggering inquiry

However, Muscat himself featured six times throughout that application triggering the magisterial inquiry. 

On May 31, 2016, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia published a damning due diligence report, drawn up by a consultancy company for a potential client of Vitals Global Healthcare. That report said that Schembri was close to Ram Tumuluri and Shawkat Ali, who was said to be a consultant to Muscat in 2013, a claim Muscat had denied.

He later turned out to be one of the Vitals investors.

According to that report, Schembri had allegedly promised Indian contractors Shapoorji Pallonji and Global Health Care that they would win the privatisation deal if they worked with Tumuluri and Shawkat Ali. 

The two companies allegedly accepted that after a visit to Dubai by “a very senior former Maltese minister,” namely John Dalli who was consultant to Muscat on health matters and hospitals, Aquilina told the court.

Dalli and Shawkat Ali apparently had known each other for many years since the time Dalli worked in Libya.

Another reference to Muscat was gleaned through documents presented in court by Ashok Rattehali when seeking a prohibitory injunction against Bluestone. 

Those documents referred to a late-night meeting at the former prime minister’s office on December 20, 2017 to finalise the transfer of the hospitals to Steward Global Healthcare.

Schembri, Konrad Mizzi and Tumuluri were also present. 

On January 20, 2019, former Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia had stated, in comments to the media about the controversial VGH deal: “Now you know what was going on in the Office of the Prime Minister and why OPM wanted to change my portfolio from minister of health to social services or the environment.” 

Those comments clearly indicated that Farrugia had been “removed” by Muscat simply because he was not willing to accept the Vitals deal, said Aquilina. 

And St James Hospital Director, Josie Muscat, had stated, in a media interview, that he “had evidence” that Tumuluri was very close to Muscat’s office.

He claimed that Tumuluri knew from the start that Vitals would clinch the deal even before the Request for Proposals had been published. 

In fact, Tumuluri had a powerpoint presentation which he showed to banks in February 2015, before the RFP had been made public. 

Repubblika’s second application for the in genere inquiry was upheld by then-Magistrate Doreen Clarke. 

The inquiry against the three former ministers and Vassallo is currently still ongoing before Magistrate Vella. 

“How did you communicate with the magistrate?” asked Gouder. 

“I never met Magistrate Vella nor her staff. Communication was always via emails, notes or such documents filed in court. Nor was Repubblika ever summoned in this inquiry,” said Aquilina. 

More recently, the organisation had filed another application bringing to the Magistrate’s attention the Auditor General’s report on the hospitals’ deal. 

Asked why they had mentioned Muscat more recently when they had not done so in their earlier applications, Aquilina said that they had previously supplied information shedding light upon the former prime minister. 

“The information we obtained later aggravated Muscat’s position.” 

Criminal complaint

Repubblika had also filed a criminal report to the Police Commissioner following a report by The Sunday Times of Malta in November 2021 about the Vitals concession. 

When police searched Muscat’s home in January 2022, Aquilina got to know through the media. 

“Thus it was logical that Muscat was being investigated.”

“Why did you file a police report rather than go to the inquiring magistrate,” asked Gouder.

“We had legal advice that we were to proceed in that manner,” replied the witness.

“What advice?” pressed on Gouder. 

Madam Justice Doreen Clarke stepped in, pointing out that legal advice is privileged. 

Inspector Wayne Rodney Borg, representing the Police Commissioner, presented two criminal reports.

The first, filed in November 2021, had been handled by a former inspector who had since resigned from the corps. 

That report, together with a second one filed in May this year, were inserted in the file concerning the ongoing Vitals inquiry. 

The case continues. 

Lawyers James D’Agostino and Isaac Zammit represented the State Advocate’s Office.