Fate of Steward’s hospitals deal decided: A timeline of fraudulent intent

A court has annulled government’s €60 million deal to privatise the St Luke’s, Gozo and Karin Grech hospitals on Friday. 

The case was filed in 2018, by Adrian Delia, then leader of the Opposition, in a bid to force the cancellation of the 99-year emphyteutical concession agreement  on the basis that the concessionaire, Vitals Global Healthcare and their heirs in title, Steward Healthcare, had not fulfilled their contractual obligations.

Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale decided in favour of Delia’s request that the court order the €60 million deal to be rescinded.

Delia had also argued that the contract itself was vitiated because, he claimed, Vitals were in talks with the government before the tender process had even started.

Meanwhile, yesterday in parliament Health Minister Chris Fearne reassured patients and Steward hospital employees that they will not be affected by the judgement, irrispective of the outcome. 

The public hospitals’ concession had been negotiated by Konrad Mizzi, the health minister at the time.

Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH), at the time an unknown consortium, had been selected to take over the running of the three hospitals.

Delia’s case had originally been filed against the Prime Minister, VGH, the Attorney General, the CEO of Malta Industrial Parks, and the chairman of the Lands Authority’s board of governors.

Steward Healthcare was later grandfathered into the case, replacing VGH as a defendant after the latter sold it the concession, together with €55 million in debts it had accrued, for the nominal price of €1, less than two years after it had been granted.

The court had heard witnesses from various government bodies testify to the fact that nobody had carried out due diligence on the contract because it was “already a done deal,” decided by former minister Chris Cardona and Ram Tumuluri.

Additional reporting by Karl Azzopardi and Nicole Meilak