Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and former Minister Konrad Mizzi will testify in a crucial sitting concerning the controversial Vitals hospitals deal.

They will be appearing in court at 12pm today in a case kicked off by former PN Leader Adrian Delia over the deal.

Muscat and Mizzi missed the last sitting. Muscat skipped the sitting to attend “the most exclusive and influential gathering of family wealth ever held” in Dubai. Mizzi cited COVID-19 symptoms.

Lovin Malta will be following this sitting live unless Mizzi and Muscat fail to turn up. 

VGH had been granted a controversial concession for the Gozo General Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital. Mizzi was the minister responsible for the project.

It has been revealed that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding months before a request for proposals was even announced.

The company was forced to sell off their operations to Steward Healthcare just 21 months after starting amid growing financial debt, which stood at €36 million by the end of 2017. Its CEO, Ram Tumuluri, reportedly still made off with a €5 million bonus.

An un-redacted contract revealed that taxpayers were paying VGH around €188,000 a day (€70 million a year) to provide hospital beds to the state, €1.2 million a year for the Barts medical school and a further €1 million for a helicopter service.

Steward Healthcare was brought in to replace them. They were given certain assurances by the government, namely Mizzi and former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat when they were brought in to save the failing concession.

This included a massive €100 million buyout should the concession be rescinded and a secret €8 million bank guarantee (which has since been waived).

Times of Malta has claimed that the government is planning to take back control of the three state hospitals, reportedly giving Cabinet a presentation on the issue. Steward will be granted a design-and-build contract for the hospitals.

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