The Walajahis presented an agreement it had signed in March 2015  with a company owned by Canadian-Pakistani businessman Ram Tumuluri, who would become a VGH director.

In it, the two parties state that Mohammed Shoiab Walajahi had provided the company with introducer services in relation to “the project and the entry into and execution of  the memorandum of understanding”.

This was a reference to the MOU that the Maltese government had signed with Vitals investors in October 2014, six months before it issued a public call for the running of the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals that Vitals ended up winning.

The agreement obliged Crossrange to pay the Walajahis an initial €30,000 within 30 days, and a further €2.8 million within 60 days of its final deal with the government.

The Walajahis agreed to forfeit the €2.8 million and waive their rights to sue Tumuluri’s company in the eventuality that a deal with the government couldn’t be struck.

Delia noted that the lawsuit against Steward shows that the Walajahis believe they succeeded in their job of brokering a deal between Vitals and the Maltese government, and this before the government issued a tender that Vitals ended up winning.

“All tenders should be transparent and public so that we know how our taxes are being spent – that’s the whole point of public tendering,” Delia said.

“This was probably Malta’s largest ever tender, with a value of €4 billion over 30 years that could be renewed twice, and involved the second largest Maltese hospital, Gozo’s only public hospital, and Karin Grech Hospital.”

“However, it seems as though this was actually determined by two Pakistani brothers, one of whom published a Facebook photo of himself standing on the stairs of Castille, as though it were his.”

Delia said that everyone knows that the investment promised by the government when it announced the VGH deal back in 2015 never materialised.

This promised investment included the construction of a new “state-of-the-art” hospital in Gozo for residents and medical tourists, the conversion of St Luke’s into a private hospital with focus on rehabilitation and dermatology, and the conversion of Karin Grech into a geriatric hospital.

“Steward themselves have described the contract as fraudulent and corrupt, and now two Pakistani brokers are requesting €2.8 million because they brokered a deal between VGH and government to rob us.”

Although the deal was struck by the government of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and was spearheaded by former Health Minister Konrad Mizzi, Delia warned that their successors, Robert Abela and Chris Fearne, should also be held responsible because they had voted in 2021 to increase Steward’s budget allocation by €41 million.

Delia has filed a civil case requesting the scrapping of the contract, a move that would see the three hospitals returned to the public. A judgement was originally scheduled for this week but it has been deferred to 24th February due to the complexity of the case.

The PN MP and former leader urged people not to speculate that this deferral is a sign of something dodgy and said the courts should be allowed to work in peace.

Cover photo: Left: Adrian Delia, Right: Mohammed Shoiab Walajahi

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