Prime Minister Robert Abela has rubbished disgraced former minister Konrad Mizzi claims that the entire cabinet back the controversial Vitals hospital deal at every stage of negotiations.

“The AG is saying something entirely different to the Konrad Mizzi,” Abela said to the press earlier today.

Yesterday, the NAO flagged collusion between the government and VGH investors in the deal, saying the entire process was dubious and the bidding process grossly inadequate.

It uncovered evidence that the deal was struck well before requests for proposals were sent out, namely a memorandum of understanding signed months before an agreement was reached.

However, Mizzi insisted he had nothing to the MoU, passing off the buck to the entire cabinet and more specifically the Economy Ministry, which was then headed by Chris Cardona.

Mizzi’s statements run contrary to the NAO report which says:

“Of even greater concern to this Office was the fact that Cabinet was not appropriately informed of the project prior to the issue of the requests for proposals.”

VGH was forced to sell its concession to run the Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo hospitals amid growing debt and a failure to deliver on contractual commitments like investing some €200 million in new medical facilities.

Mizzi, who has since been kicked out of the Labour Party parliamentary group, orchestrated the deal, which is subject to a magisterial inquiry. Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had revealed that the deal was pre-ordained before any bidding process.

The murky ownership behind VGH was also brought into question. Primarily, 70% of it is owned by a particular purpose vehicle jointly owned by Tumuluri, Pawley, and two unknown figures – Ashok Rattehalli and Ambrish Gupta. The remaining 30% of the ownership remains a mystery.

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