Delia’s court case prevented government from seeking further damages over hospitals deal, minister says

Updated with Delia's comments

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard has claimed that legal action initiated by Opposition MP Adrian Delia over the controversial hospitals concession prevented the Maltese government from pursuing additional damages against Steward Health Care.

Speaking on Andrew Azzopardi on Campus 103.7 on Saturday morning, Attard said that by the time the government was preparing to take legal action against Steward, Delia’s case before the Maltese courts had already annulled the entire concession agreement on the basis of fraud and collusion.

“The government was positioning itself to act against Steward,” Attard said, “but we were pre-empted by the case filed by Adrian Delia. Once the courts declared the original contract null from the beginning, we could not claim damages for what Vitals should have done but failed to do.”

He argued that this meant the government could not seek compensation for lost opportunities such as medical tourism or other projected benefits from the hospitals deal.

Contacted by MaltaToday, Delia said he couldn't believe that the minister is trying to shift the blame on him. “It is absolutely surreal that Minister Jonathan Attard, in his omnipotent judgement, somehow finds a way not to blame his own government or ministers, who were not even called to testify during the arbitration proceedings, but instead chooses to point the finger at me,” he said.

Delia insisted that, while he was fighting in court to return the three state hospitals to the people, the Labour government was too busy defending Vitals Global Healthcare and later Steward Health Care.

“How can anyone claim this was a fair deal when after spending close to €900 million, we are left with a derelict St Luke’s, a condemned Karin Grech, and no new general hospital in Gozo?”

ICC ruling made public

Attard’s comments came a day after the government published a 200-page decision issued by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal, which rejected both Steward’s claim for damages and the Maltese government’s counterclaim for compensation.

The tribunal dismissed Steward’s assertion that Malta had unlawfully terminated the concession, while also rejecting the government’s request for hundreds of millions of euros in damages. The ruling described the Maltese people as “the primary victims” of the failed privatisation.

Attard insisted that the decision did not mean Malta had wasted money. “Every cent that the government paid was returned through our healthcare services,” he said, rejecting criticism that the state had paid Steward “€400 million for nothing.”

Opposition questions government’s stance

In reaction, Opposition Home Affairs spokesperson Darren Carabott said Attard’s argument contradicted the government’s own legal position. “The government itself had claimed almost €500 million from Steward,” Carabott said. “If that was a false claim, why did they demand a refund of €487 million plus interest?”

He added that the government must answer a simple question: “Do we agree that those concessions should never have been granted in the first place?”

Momentum calls ruling “a humiliation”

The political party Momentum also reacted strongly to the ICC ruling, describing it as “a total humiliation for Malta.”

In a statement, the party accused the government of attempting to “spin” what it called a devastating judgment. “Maltese citizens were not only failed by the hospitals deal but also by the government’s catastrophic legal failure,” Momentum said.

“The government demanded a refund of €487 million from Steward, admitting that this money belonged to the Maltese people. Instead, the ICC ordered Malta to pay Steward a net €4.79 million. Their failure to retrieve these funds is a demonstration of incompetence,” the party added.

The ICC’s decision marks the latest chapter in the long-running hospitals saga, which began when the Vitals Global Healthcare group was controversially granted a concession to run three state hospitals in 2015. The deal was later transferred to Steward Health Care, before being annulled by Maltese courts last year following Delia’s landmark case.