The Prime Minister has asked the Commissioner of Police to look into allegations made by Frank Portelli about works at the new Mater Dei Hospital, the government said in a brief statement yesterday.

Dr Portelli, a former Nationalist Party MP and ex-party president who is now in charge of a private hospital, had made allegations of corruption on a prime time TV show about two weeks ago. He alleged that corruption during the building of the new hospital took the form of commissions, claiming salaried people have as a result been able to buy property valued at between Lm120,000 and Lm150,000.

During the same TV programme, Dr Portelli had said he was not convinced Maltese taxpayers had got good value for money at Mater Dei. He added that, based on research he had carried out, a similar hospital in Scotland had cost Lm125 million, not Lm250 million as Mater Dei had cost.

In a three-line letter, a copy of which was passed on to the media, the Prime Minister asked the Commissioner of Police to look into what Dr Portelli had said and written about the matter and to investigate. The hospital is scheduled to open on June 29.

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