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Keith Schembri And Wife’s Company Pocketed Thousands From Vitals Global Healthcare

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Thousands of euro were transferred from Vitals and later Steward to a company owned by former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and his wife Josette. 

According to a report by The Times of Malta, 3City Design, which is an interior design company, and FSV Limited, also run by Josette Schembri, received €76,200 from Vitals, the first operator of the concession to run three state hospitals. 

In November 2017, 3City Design received €45,000 to draw up plans for a multi-storey car park in Pietà. While two months earlier, Vitals signed a deal with FSV to rent a property in Pender for €2,400  a month.

Keith Schembri remains charged with money laundering and taking alleged kickbacks in connection to Times of Malta’s purchase of printing equipment and the passports scheme.

His wife, Josette, has been charged with money laundering in her capacity as director of 3City Design, which was allegedly used to launder €1.5million between 2008 and 2020.

The Vitals deal has long faced allegations of corruption and is currently subject to a magisterial inquiry.

VGH had first been granted a controversial concession for the Gozo General Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital. 

It has been revealed that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding months before a request for proposals was even announced. It has been mired in corruption claims and is currently subject to a magisterial inquiry. 

The company was forced to sell off their operations to Steward Health Care 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, with VGH unable to pay its employees. They were given certain assurances by the government, namely from 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This included a massive €100 million buyout should the concession be rescinded and a secret €8 million bank guarantee (which has since been waived).

It has been revealed that Muscat was paid €60,000 from Accutor AG and Spring X Media, two Swiss companies owned by Pakistani lawyer Wasay Bhatti, in the early months of 2020, shortly after his resignation as Prime Minister.

Accutor AG had received €3.6 million from Steward Healthcare during the company’s takeover of the hospital contract from Vitals Global Healthcare.

Police have since raided his home. However, he maintains his innocence and has not been charged.

The deal has created massive gaps in operations – with Steward staff being paid less than their state counterparts for doing the exact same job. Meanwhile, the government continues to fork out millions for a service that is not too dissimilar from Malta’s.

What do you think of the revelations?

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Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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