Frank Portelli’s offer to give a future Labour Administration the chance to pull out of the St Philip’s Hospital deal should apply to “any” government, according to the Labour Party.

Dr Portelli, who owns the disused hospital, made the offer on television to stave off criticism by the PL of the lease agreement he is to sign with the Government.

He was willing to include a clause that will allow a Labour government to withdraw from the contract with no penalties as long as he was given six months notice.

A PL spokesman said yesterday the party was not privy or party to the contract and could not negotiate such a clause.

“However, if Frank Portelli wants to put his money where his mouth is, he could unilaterally include a clause whereby any future Government can rescind the contract without penalties,” the spokesman said.

St Philip’s Hospital will be used as a rehabilitation facility if the deal goes through.

The arrangement and the Government’s refusal to submit the deal for parliamentary scrutiny before it is signed have been criticised by the Opposition, by independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and by Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono.

The Finance Ministry skirted the question when asked whether the Government would be including such a clause in the contract.

“It is precisely the Government’s intention not to commit any future Administration to a purchase, so much so that it will be leasing out the hospital. Any decision on purchasing the hospital will be taken by the end of year three of the agreement,” the ministry said.

But the Labour spokesman insisted that Dr Portelli’s offer showed that the draft agreement, so far unpublished, would include penalties.

“This fact makes the vetting of the contract by the Public Accounts Committee and the Auditor General even more pressing,” the spokesman said.

He refuted Dr Portelli’s statements that Labour officials promised him that if elected they would go ahead with the agreement. The PL did not hold discussions with Dr Portelli about St Philip’s Hospital, he insisted.

“Labour’s position in favour of proper public private partnership in the health and other sectors is not to be mistaken with GonziPN’s stopgap panic-stricken initiatives just four years after the opening of Mater Dei Hospital, which should have served for a generation,” the spokesman said.

He insisted that a Labour government would under-take such initiatives in “a transparent manner”.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.