The Romanian-born wife of former Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia will have to pay €2,221 in hospital bills to Mater Dei Hospital after a court upheld a garnishee order requested by the Chief Medical Officer.

Elena Codruta Cristian had been admitted to Mater Dei Hospital, between December 16 and 21, 2008, to give birth to twins. Back then she did not have Maltese citizenship, and was still not married to Dr Mallia, which meant she was not entitled to free care at the State-run hospital.

In July 2009, the hospital sent Ms Cristian an official letter asking her to pay the bill. She was notified about the letter that remained uncontested, but no payment was made.

In August 2013, the hospital obtained a garnishee order and, in line with normal court procedure, Lombard Bank transferred the amount owed by Ms Cristian from her bank account to the Law Courts’ account, until the case was decided.

In September 2013, the Chief Medical Officer filed a court application asking to withdraw the payment from the courts.

She failed to contest the official letter within 20 days

Last January, Ms Cristian – who married Dr Mallia in July 2012 – filed a reply claiming that the request was null since there had been a mistake in her name in official documents. Her middle name was written as ‘Corduta’ and not ‘Codruta’.

In April she filed another reply in which she noted that, although she was not yet a Maltese citizen in 2008, it was not contested that the father of the babies was Maltese and that her children were Maltese citizens.

But Magistrate Gabriella Vella yesterday noted that the arguments raised by Ms Cristian in January and April were legally inadmissible.

This was because, according to law, Ms Cristian failed to contest the July 2009 official letter within the 20 days allowed by law. This meant that, as a result, the Chief Medical Officer had executive title over the money.

The Maltese citizenship of Ms Cristian, who is now Ms Mallia, was the subject of controversy earlier this year when the Opposition claimed Dr Mallia used his ministerial discretion to grant her Maltese citizenship before he had been married to her for the legally-established five-year period.

Dr Mallia always insisted that his wife applied for citizenship by naturalisation under the Maltese Citizenship Act and not on the strength of her marriage: she had been in Malta for 10 years and had children who had Maltese citizenship.