“Completely false and baseless” – that’s what ex-OPM Chief of Staff Keith Schembri had to say to former Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) director Ram Tumuluri’s claims that Schembri threatened that he could end up like Daphne Caruana Galizia if he didn’t hand over the hospital concession to Stewart Health Care (SHS).

In a filing in the US, Tumuluri has alleged that he was unlawfully coerced to sell his VGH shares to Steward. He claimed that Schembri told him: “you know what happened with Daphne and you don’t want to end up in that position. You want us to be a friend, not a foe.”

Schembri called these claims “malicious”.

“It appears that he has a vivid imagination and is attempting to associate this case with the tragic murder of Mrs Caruana Galizia, which is absolutely horrendous,” Schembri said. 

Tumuluri is seeking whistleblower protection in the US under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expose alleged coercion, threats, and corrupt practices by Joseph Muscat’s government in a hospitals deal.

Tumuluri claims that Muscat’s government conspired to remove him from Malta to favour a predetermined deal with American operators Steward Health Care.. The FCPA is a powerful anti-corruption law targeting bribery of foreign government officials by US entities.

Muscat has also denied the allegations: “I categorically deny being at any stage involved in the negotiations between the two sides, either directly or indirectly, and I never asked for any position.”

Tumuluri claims that the government had made a deal with this third party to take over the hospitals and that Schembri was acting on Muscat’s instructions. Tumuluri says he agreed to sign the deal out of fear for his safety and his family’s.