Health Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday told Parliament that the government would have no problem keeping the Opposition updated on its progress in the battle against Skanska over fraud in the construction of Mater Dei Hospital.
He said he would be ready to meet Opposition representatives even behind closed doors on sensitive matters.
He called on the Opposition to join the government to achieve the best results possible. PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco said the Opposition agreed with what the government was pushing for.
Dr Mizzi said that, following Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s talks with the Swedish Prime Minister, the government had written to Skanska, which already had a number of similar cases pending in other countries, and was in the process of submitting claims through legal letters under the guidance of the Attorney General.
In the meantime, it had brought together a very strong legal team.
Answering Beppe Fenech Adami (PN), the minister said it was still the government’s opinion that the second waiver granted to Skanska had been unnecessary because the first – the project closure agreement – was normal practice and covered everything.
It was the public inquiry’s findings of fraud that had given the government the grounds to proceed
It was the public inquiry’s findings of fraud that had given the government the grounds to proceed; without them the government’s case would have been weaker.
Following what had been found in the original concrete, there was complete transparency in the process over the concrete being used in the two new floors adjacent to the Emergency Department. Tests were being taken, complete with photos, and the samples were being accompanied to the laboratory.
Dr Fenech Adami asked if after both the Prime Minister and Dr Mizzi had decried the “scandals” over the concrete, the Attorney General’s advice meant that they had been mistaken.
Dr Mizzi said what had happened was still a scandal. At €700 million the hospital had cost the people about two-thirds more than it would have cost in some other European country. The people had been badly short-changed over quality.