Pakistani Intermediaries Sue Steward Over Unpaid €2.8 Million Vitals Had Promised Them
Two Pakistani nationals who acted as brokers to help Vitals Global Healthcare enter Malta are suing their successors, Steward Healthcare Malta, for failing to pay them €2.8 million that had been promised to them.
Lawyers Franco Galea and Jean Pierre Busuttil last month filed a court application on behalf of Mohammed Shoiab Walajahi and Sarwat Shoiab Walajahi, requesting the payment of the missing funds.
They attached as evidence an introducer fee settlement that the Walajahis had signed in March 2015 with Crossrange Holdings Ltd, a now-defunct company that was owned by Canadian-Pakistani businessman Ram Tumuluri. The agreement was certified by the law firm DF Advocates.
In it, the two parties state that Mohammed Shoiab Walajahi had provided Crossrange 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.
As part of the deal, the Walajahis bound themselves to keep the agreement confidential, to not represent anyone connected with Crossrange, to avoid contacting any of its clients, customers or business partners, and to not work for any potential competitor for ten years.
A Steward Healthcare render outlining its plans for St Luke's
A clause stipulates that if a court finds any provision of the agreement to be invalid or unenforceable, the parties must try their best to substitute it with a valid provision that achieves the objectives “to the greatest extent possible”.
On 19th June 2015, the Walajahis signed a new agreement with Bluestone Investments Malta Ltd and Vitals Global Healthcare, both represented by Tumuluri and Mark Pawley, to transfer Crossrange’s obligations to them.
Nine days later, Vitals was announced as the government’s preferred bidder for the hospital project. Two years later, Vitals sold its concession to Steward after running into financial problems.
However, the Walajahis said in their court application that while they received the initial €30,000 fee, they are still waiting for the €2.8 million almost eight years down the line, despite several promises – including “recently” – that the money will be paid.
The court application comes as Malta awaits the outcome of a multi-billion civil case that PN MP and former leader Adrian Delia had filed against the Vitals-Steward hospital deal, with a judgement expected in the coming days.
Delia is arguing that Vitals had breached several terms of the concession and that the government therefore had no right to allow the transfer to Steward to take place.
In a recent interview with Lovin Malta, Delia said he is confident that justice will be done and that he expects the government to have a full contingency plan in place in the eventuality that the deal is scrapped.
Cover photo: From left: Ram Tumuluri, the Gozo General Hospital (Photo: Steward Helathcare), Mohammed Shoiab Walajahi
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