Judge orders Steward damages case be heard in January but rejects Opposition's urgency request

A judge has turned down Bernard Grech’s and Adrian Delia’s request for their case against the State Advocate to be heard with urgency.

But Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti said the case is one of national interest and decreed that it be heard on 8 January 2024.

The Opposition leader and Delia filed a case in which they are asking the court to declare that the State Advocate can open legal proceedings against the government and Steward Healthcare to recover damages to the tune of €400 million as a result of the fraudulent hospitals deal that was quashed by the Maltese courts earlier this year.

However, Grech and Delia also filed a request for the case to be heard with urgency. In his counter-reply, the State Advocate insisted there was no scope for the case to be heard with urgency and the Maltese government had already initiated arbitration proceedings in front of the International Chamber of Commerce to recover any money it was owed for work that was not delivered by the hospitals concessionaire.

In his ruling, Grixti chided the Opposition MPs for not explaining why the case merited to be heard with urgency but acknowledged it was one of national interest.

Consequently, Grixti ordered that the case be heard at the first opportunity on 8 January 2024 at 9:15am, giving the State Advocate 20 days to rebut the arguments put forward by Grech and Delia.