Joseph Muscat denies association with Fearne smear campaign: ‘It’s deeply offensive’

Joseph Muscat has denied any association with the smear campaign against Chris Fearne funded by Steward Health Care, the company that operated the now defunct hospitals concession. 

“The malicious whispering campaign orchestrated by certain individuals across the political spectrum, aided by some media characters, trying to wrongly associate me with a smear campaign against Chris Fearne, is not only false but deeply offensive,” the former prime minister said in replies to MaltaToday. 

Chris Fearne resigned from Cabinet after he was charged with fraudulent gain in connection with the hospitals deal. The latest media revelations show that Steward had financed a smear campaign against him when as health minister he started tightening the screws on the company (Photo: DOI)

However, Muscat did not delve into the nature of his relationship with Lynton Crosby, the individual who ran the intelligence company contracted by Steward that fabricated the Fearne bribery story. 

MaltaToday is informed that as prime minister, Muscat and his government used the services of Lynton Crosby, CEO of CT Group, the firm contracted by Steward. Crosby was present on several occasions at the Office of the Prime Minister in 2019, according to sources close to government at the time. 

Crosby had also been invited to address the Commonwealth Business Forum in 2015 as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) hosted in Malta. The business forum was coordinated by Adrian Hillman, the former Allied Newspapers CEO who is facing corruption charges in relation to the hospitals deal.  

“Engagements by the Maltese government are transparent and open to public scrutiny,” Muscat replied without giving detail.

READ ALSO: Chris Fearne takes Steward frame-up allegations to the police

‘A devious agenda against me’ 

Joseph Muscat waving to supporters before entering court to face corruption charges linked to the Steward Hospitals deal (Photo: Kurt Sansone/MaltaToday)

He also denied introducing Crosby to Steward Health Care. “The unfounded assertion that a company associated with the British and Australian governments, amongst others, needed me to introduce it to anyone is ridiculous and something I flatly deny,” Muscat said. 

The former prime minister insisted that the narrative trying to associate him with the smear campaign against Fearne is “driven by those with a devious agenda against me, one which I believe will be exposed as more information comes to light”. 

He went on to “empathise” with Fearne and his political aide Carmen Ciantar over their ordeal. 

“Having personally been the subject of baseless accusations, such as the fabricated Egrant story and other claims that I am legally unable to address due to a gagging order, I can empathise with the ordeal faced by Chris Fearne, Carmen Ciantar, and their families,” Muscat said, expressing hope that justice will be served for any wrongdoing committed.

READ ALSO: ‘My daughter and I were collateral damage’ in attempted Steward frame-up of Chris Fearne

PL denies using Crosby’s services 

Labour HQ in Hamrun

Meanwhile, the Labour Party denied using the services of Crosby and CT Group for its electoral campaigns. 

“The Labour Party did not use the services of the individual [Crosby] and company [CT Group] for electoral campaigns. Partit Laburista has no commercial relationship with the mentioned parties,” a spokesperson replied to questions by MaltaToday. 

Steward Health Care took over the contract to renovate and manage three of Malta's public hospitals in 2018 from Vitals Healthcare. However, payments to the company were held up after then-health minister Chris Fearne questioned whether it was providing all the medical services it was contracted to deliver.

Steward paid millions to intelligence firms 

Senior officials from Steward Health Care face criminal charges in Malta linked to corruption over the hospitals deal that was annulled by the Maltese court last year

An OCCRP investigation last week revealed that private intelligence firms hired by Steward orchestrated a smear campaign against Fearne. One of those firms, Crosby’s CT Group, produced a report falsely accusing Fearne of taking a bribe, which was later sent to journalists. The stories first surfaced in obscure Pakistani and Ukrainian websites. 

Steward averaged payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars each month to London-based intelligence firms Audere International and CT Group, and then charged the fees back to its Malta division, which was largely funded by Maltese taxpayers under the hospital deal. 

The companies involved have denied wrongdoing. 

The hospitals saga goes all the way to 2015, when the Maltese government granted a concession for the operation of three hospitals – Gozo General, St Luke’s and Karin Grech –  to Vitals Global Healthcare. The concession had been negotiated by Konrad Mizzi, who was health minister at the time. 

Less than two years after the concession was granted, Vitals sold it to Steward together with €55 million in debts, for the nominal price of €1. 

A file photo of Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi (right): The pair are facing corruption charges over the Vitals-Steward hospitals deal

In August 2019, Mizzi signed off on a side agreement with Steward, which obliged the government to pay the company €100 million if the contract was struck down by the court. Cabinet was unaware of this secret arrangement, which was also annulled by the court when it cancelled the deal last year following a civil suit filed by Nationalist MP Adrian Delia. In May this year, after a magisterial inquiry, several individuals and companies were charged with corruption over the hospitals deal, including senior Steward and Vitals officials. 

Muscat, his then chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi have been charged with corruption, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to form a criminal organisation. Fearne and former finance minister Edward Scicluna were also charged with fraudulent gain. 

All individuals have pleaded not guilty and the cases against them are ongoing.