Watch: ‘Come To St Luke’s And Show Us What We Got For €900 Million’ – Delia Challenges Abela
Adrian Delia challenged Prime Minister Robert Abela to join him on a tour of St Luke’s Hospital to show what the public received in return for the €884 million that was paid to Steward Healthcare over the years.
“The concession to Vitals, and then Steward, didn’t simply oblige them to provide services,” Delia pointed out.
“They were meant to have upgraded three hospitals and build a new hospital in Gozo but they didn’t do any of that.”
“St Luke’s is completely abandoned. Only pigeons live here and there is no sign of the 400 beds that the concession had pledged.”
Delia and Shadow Health Minister Stephen Spiteri addressed a press conference outside St Luke’s following the conclusion of arbitration proceedings between the government and Steward at the at the International Chamber of Commerce.
The ICC dismissed Steward’s request for €148 million in compensation following the termination of the hospitals concession in the wake of Delia’s legal victory.
It said Steward received €885 million from the government over the years, while the benefits to the government stand at €890 million – a shortfall of €4.78 million owed to Steward.
Abela has described this ruling as a “victory for Malta” and claimed it disputed the PN’s claim that hundreds of millions were robbed from the public coffers.
However, Delia questioned what Steward spent the public funds it received on, if not on investment.
“Our Prime Minister is singing a victory chant while mocking the people of Malta,” he said.
“He had pledged to utilise international arbitration to collect every last cent that Steward and Vitals had robbed from us, but they didn’t win anything.”
“They lost and now Abela is saying that Malta won. He is lying and taking everyone for a ride.”
Delia also challenged former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s claim that the arbitration ruling proves there wasn’t fraud in the process.
“Since Muscat is claiming that this ruling is proof that there wasn’t fraud, then who claimed the existence of fraud in these proceedings?”
“Was it Steward or the government who claimed fraud, which would have meant admitting they were involved in it?”
“Or did no one make this claim at all because these proceedings were unrelated to fraud?”
Cover photo: Partit Nazzjonalista
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