OPM says it is monitoring Steward’s bankruptcy proceedings in the US

The government is monitoring bankruptcy proceedings by Steward Healthcare in the United States, it said in a statement on Sunday. 
“The Government has engaged U.S. bankruptcy lawyers who are providing expert guidance throughout this process,” a statement read.

Steward Health Care, the American healthcare provider whose international arm had acquired Malta’s controversial hospitals’ PPP, filed for bankruptcy in Texas last May.

The office of the Prime Minister confirmed that arbitration proceedings before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) are currently at an advanced stage with written pleadings expected to be concluded in the coming months.

The company's bankruptcy filing lists 30 creditors who are owed a total of more than $500 million, including the U.S. government, which is owed more than $32 million to the federal government in reimbursements for insurance overpayments.

The deadline for Maltese governmental units to file claims within the bankruptcy proceedings expires on November 4, 2024 at midnight Malta time.

On Friday, the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation warned that if government does not file proof of a claim in a United States court on or before 4 November, it stands no chance of getting Malta’s money back through bankruptcy proceedings initiated by Steward.

Steward branched out in Malta via Steward Healthcare International when it acquired the concession granted to the unknown Vitals Global Healthcare by the Labour administration, back in 2017. Since then, a Maltese judge concluded that the concession had breached its terms and that changes to the contract under the purview of former prime minister Joseph Muscat and his minister Konrad Mizzi, had been highly irregular.