[WATCH] Delia calls on Prime Minister not to be an accomplice with Konrad Mizzi on hospitals deal

Government "shockingly" agreed to give Steward Healthcare peace of mind by stepping in with a guarantee that will cost public coffers €100 million if the courts agree that the hospitals concession was vitiated, Adrian Delia said.

The former Opposition leader was commenting outside court on the testimony of Konrad Mizzi's then permanent secretary Ronald Mizzi, who said he had no clue of the termination clause the government agreed to in an agreement with Steward and Bank of Valletta.

"After I filed my case to have the hospitals concession contract rescinded, instead of doing the right thing, government agreed to give a private foreign company peace of mind by agreeing to pay it €100 million if the courts lawfully find that the deal was wrong," Delia said.

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He insisted that the guarantee was requested by Bank of Valletta but instead of covering the €30 million loan exposure the bank had with Steward, the government opted to pledge €100 million if the concession agreement was terminated for whatever reason.

He called out former health and energy minister Konrad Mizzi for refusing to answer any of the questions put to him. Mizzi's lawyers said in court their client would not answer since there were pending inquiries into the deal.

Delia said that following today's testimony, he expected the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and all of Cabinet to take "drastic steps" to claim back the three public hospitals.

"If they do nothing, they will all be an accomplice with Konrad Mizzi in this theft of public property," Delia said.

Government is currently in negotiations with Steward Healthcare to get the project going. Originally, the private company had to build a new state-of-the-art hospital in Gozo, and refurbish St Luke's and Karin Grech hospitals. A medical school in Gozo has been built but other contractual targets have fallen by the wayside.