Reference to fraud not against me or government, hospitals deal not corrupt says Muscat

Disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat insisted the court sentence that annulled the concession of the hospitals to Steward, made no reference to corruption and that the word "fraud" was only addressed towards third parties.

On Saturday, Muscat kept defending his actions with regards to the hospitals' deal and wrote on Facebook that technically, the sentence never used to word "fraud" towards him and the government.

“There is no reference to corruption,” Muscat insisted.

On Friday, following the landmark decision by the court to annul all the concession of the three public hospitals to Vitals and Steward, Muscat insisted that contracts had all been approved by the cabinet.

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne told MaltaToday that the judgment absolved him of any responsibility in the deal. On Facebook, Muscat said there was no contradiction between what he and Fearne had said on Friday.

The Gozo General Hospital, St Luke's, and Karin Grech were awarded on concession to Vitals in 2015 and when the obscure private company failed to live up to its commitments, the concession was transferred to Steward Healthcare.  At the time of the transfer, Fearne, who was health minister, had described Steward as "the real deal."

“The fact that the hospitals’ concession was discussed and action taken on multiple times in Cabinet is not news. This was also listed in the NAO report that the court took credit for,” Muscat said.

The disgraced former PM said he was named twice in the sentence, the first being his testimony and the second when Mr. Justice Depasquale quoted a part of his testimony where he stated that Steward and Vitals had not performed all of their duties.

He said that the judge’s decision to annul the concession was based on his opinion that Vitals and Steward Healthcare did not perform their duties.

“I reiterate that I am welcome to any further scrutiny that might result after the actions taken by the Auditor General and the Court.