Boston Globe Delves Into Malta’s Fraudulent Steward Healthcare Deal
The infamous Steward Healthcare deal in Malta was covered in an in-depth feature by the Boston Globe, which said that the island was “the first stop in its aggressive bid to expand internationally.”
“The firm’s ambitious foray to the island nation proved a disappointment, one with echoes of the current furor over Steward’s alleged mismanagement of its Massachusetts properties,” the American news agency wrote.
“Steward’s Maltese experiment was a brief one. By the time of the march on the capital, Steward had already pivoted from providing medical care to defending the company’s reputation in court, after a Maltese judge invalidated its initial contract in February 2023 and accused Steward and its predecessor company of fraud. An appeals court later upheld the decision to invalidate the contract but said the court was wrong to suggest Steward was guilty of criminal deeds.”
The cover of the article further features an image taken by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation/OCCRP of the former St Luke’s Hospital, which was signed over to Vitals and later Steward on condition that it gets redeveloped, shown in a “state of neglect and abandonment in 2023”.
The article, written by Adam Piore, acts as a detailed analysis of the fraudulent deal, including quotes from PN MP Adrian Delia and references to last October’s protest urging: “Bring back the €400 million”.
It even mentioned the court case that annulled the deal.
“The only evidence Steward presented to back up its claims that it honored its commitments was a one-page affidavit from Steward’s director of facilities management and 76 pages of photos that included ‘a new helicopter which was allegedly bought in the year 2016,’ and a photo showing ‘the refurbishment of the telephone operator’s bathroom within the Gozo Hospital, with details of all the ceramics installed.'”
Piore went on to point out that, despite these failings with Steward Healthcare in Malta, the company – which used the island as its first step for global expansion – has continued making deals across the world.
Steward has opened offices in Madrid, Riyadh, Dubai, and Bogota, and in 2022 said it plans to expand into Asia, the article reads.
“In 2020, the entity that launched the Malta operation moved its headquarters to Madrid, and was reincorporated as a new joint venture, 49 percent owned by Medical Properties Trust, which paid Steward $205 million for its stake, and 51 percent by Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward Healthcare, and other members of his management team.”
Featured image: the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation/OCCRP
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