The owner of St Philip’s hospital said he has a “binding” agreement that is ready for signing, even though the Government insisted it was still negotiating.

The former Nationalist Party MP and president Frank Portelli said the deal could have been signed on October 15, the day the matter was debated in Parliament

“That same evening the negotiating teams of the two sides held a long and extensive meeting and reached an agreement on all the contractual clauses, and we were ready to sign the contract,” he said. He stressed repeatedly that the agreement reached that evening was “binding” even though it has not been signed. When asked to justify this statement, he said simply: “My version is correct.”

On October 16, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told The Times the contract was being finalised by lawyers and would be signed “within days”.

Nearly two months later, the ministry said the discussions on St Philip’s Hospital have not yet been concluded.

The contentious agreement has yet to be presented for PAC scrutiny, although the Government has not excluded submitting it after it has been signed.

The Government wants to lease the hospital for €850,000 a year to use as a rehabilitation facility.

The lease agreement is for eight years, with the Government having the option of buying it outright from the third year onwards, based on a valuation of €12.4 million.

This expense did not feature in the Budget 2013 speech and neither is it mentioned in the budgetary provisions.

However, a spokesman for the Finance Minister said funds from the health budget would be used if the agreement goes through.

Asked whether he was concerned that the deal would fall through should the Budget be voted down on Monday, Dr Portelli said: “The agreement has been reached well before any dissolution of Parliament.”

“The agreement will be signed once the Government presents it to the Public Accounts Committee prior to signing,” Dr Portelli said.

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