Former Maltese Prime Minister Jospeh Muscat and respective others are accused of organizing a criminal group together with erstwhile ministers and current head of the Central Bank of Malta in connection with the privatisation of public hospitals. The facilities went to a company that declared bankruptcy in the United States.
However, although criminal charges were filed by the prosecutor on 5 May 2015, the case concerns the privatisation of hospitals in 2015. Since then, many audits and proceedings have taken place before civilian courts. Even the convictions for the sale of 3 public hospitals were annulled.
Muscat denies that he would commit a crime. He finds the charges “funny”. Nevertheless, the erstwhile Prime Minister is the first to be charged with criminal charges in Malta. The full investigation study has not yet been made public.
In 2015, the Maltese authorities decided to privatise hospitals. Many contractors applied, but yet the government decided to sign up for 30 years with private company Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) Ltd. The company was to rebuild and operate 3 public hospitals.
However, the privatisation process was contested by the National Audit Office of Malta, which stated in 2020 that the government had not taken adequate action to verify the counterparty. In fact, it was concluded that the verification of the contract with VGH and its ability to operate 3 public hospitals was ‘darely insufficient’.
It was not known whether the company had experience in the wellness sector. The trade unions called for an audit on this matter. The auditors confirmed that VGH did not supply adequate evidence that it had experience in the management of wellness care, yet the government chose it and signed a 30-year contract worth many billion euros to manage public hospitals.
The contract was transferred 3 years later to Steward wellness Care, which runs more than 30 hospitals in the US.
The Maltese civilian court annulled the agreement in February 2023 after the opposition policy brought a complaint. According to the court's findings, the government signed a Memorandum of knowing in 2014 with a group of investors who later formed VGH with a view to taking over hospitals.
In 2021, the paper “Times of Malta” reported that Muscat received a transfer from the Swiss company Accutor, which in turn received millions from Steward wellness Care while taking over the hospital. VGH investors besides received remuneration from a Swiss company.
Steward global claimed that the Swiss company was active in ‘legal business services during this period’ and that it had no ‘commercial or another links’ with Muscat.
In May 2023, the National Audit Office pointed out unclear accounting rules, no records of the first interaction between the government and Steward wellness Care in the records of the hospitals seized.
In February 2023 the civilian court of the lower instance ruled that fraud had occurred. The appeal court confirmed the cancellation of the contract in October 2023, however, the judges stated that alternatively of cheating 1 of the parties there was a collusion between the government and the companies. The government did not defend the country's interests. Following a ruling in the civilian court, the erstwhile Prime Minister was not charged.
The case was curious in an organisation which is expected to defend Repubblik's regulation of law and which led to the prosecution's criminal charges. The American Steward wellness Care, based in Dallas, is the largest profitable infirmary operator, run by doctors. On May 5, the company filed for bankruptcy in Texas. The company began selling its infirmary facilities in the US in late January.
A medical facility in Massachusetts was closed early in the year. Senator Ed Markey claims that the company "represents the investor's profit over people's lives". The allegations of promoting and organising a criminal organization and bribery besides concern 2 officials close to Muscat: Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.
Muscat left office in 2020 in connection with the assassination of writer Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. The lawyer General of Malta has besides filed charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds against the president of the Central Bank of Malta Edward Sciclun and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, who were besides to be associated with the scandal of infirmary privatisation.
At the time of the transaction, Scicluna was Minister of Finance and Fearne was Minister of Health. Scicluna, a associate of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, did not comment on the allegations but had previously denied any irregularities. Fearne dropped the charges. Muscat, chief of staff Keith Schembri and erstwhile Minister Konrad Mizzi were charged with money laundering, corruption, bribery, influence trading and the creation of a criminal organization. All 3 men denied the charges.
Source: euronews.com, yahoo.com
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