Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi on Tuesday called for the establishment of an office for a special inquiring magistrate exclusively focused on the investigation and prosecution of cases involving allegations of corruption.
Dr Azzopardi, who was speaking during the adjournment in Parliament, made his call in the wake of revelations related to the sale of three Maltese hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare in 2015.
That year, VGH had been awarded a 30-year concession to operate Karin Grech Hospital, Gozo General Hospital, and St Luke’s Hospital, with the sole discretion to extend that concession for a period of 99 years.
The deal would have seen VGH receive €70 million a year for the operation of the three hospitals, apart from the wages of each employee at the hospitals, €1.2 million for a medical school in Gozo, and €1 million a year for an air ambulance service.
Dr Azzopardi also made reference to allegations published this week that VGH had also sought to supplement its earnings by making money from the sale of cancer medication after purchasing the company Mtrace plc which provided this medication at a 25% mark-up.
Dr Azzopardi outlined the sequence of memoranda of understanding, share transfers, and company formations in which Vitals Global Healthcare had been involved.
In July 2017, Times of Malta reported that VGH had signed an exclusive contract for the provision of medical supplies with the company Technoline Ltd, which had been bought by its own marketing manager Ivan Vassallo months before the contract with Vitals was signed.
The Shift News revealed last week that Mr Vassallo had purchased the company with a loan secured from VGH.
VGH, said Dr Azzopardi, had thus used taxpayer money to purchase companies that guaranteed it exclusivity in the provision of important medical products and a high profit margin to boot.
The Shift News had also revealed that, although Steward had bought VGH for only €1, they would be receiving €7 billion over a 99-year period of which millions had ended up in secret companies.
These facts, together with evidence that VGH had been provided with privileged information, were enough to implicate Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, Mr Vassallo, VGH CEO Armin Ernst, VGH President Ram Tumuluri, and others in complicity in fraud, corruption, breach of professional secrets, trading in influence, and conspiracy. The deal “was set up to fail,” he said.
This was more than enough to warrant the setting up of the office of a special inquiring magistrate focused solely on corruption cases.
Opposition MP Beppe Fenech Adami questioned why revelations related to Technoline were being ignored, even though they included serious allegations against OPM chief-of-staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi.
The MP called upon members of the police to uphold their oath to the public.