Watch: Robert Abela Publicly Apologises For Vitals Concession And Pledges ‘All Lessons Have Been Learned’
During the midst of yesterday’s heated parliamentary debate, Prime Minister Robert Abela said something about the original Vitals concession that he hasn’t said yet… “I’m sorry”.
“Judgment on the way the contract was originally given to Vitals Globals Healthcare was already passed by the Auditor General, who said things could have been done better,” Abela said.
“Although I wasn’t in government back then, I apologise and promise that we have learned every possible lesson from that episode.”
In 2020, the Auditor General’s Office flagged collusion between the government and the investors behind VGH, who had signed a memorandum of understanding before a public tender for the operation of the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo General hospitals was even issued.
This was also flagged by Judge Francesco Depasquale in his recent ruling which annulled the concession – that had since been granted to Steward – due to three counts of fraudulent behaviour.
Abela was elected to Parliament in 2017 and was appointed as legal advisor to Joseph Muscat’s Cabinet. This means that while he wasn’t part of government when the VGH deal was signed, he had a key Cabinet role when the concession was passed on to Steward.
However, in comments to Lovin Malta yesterday, he said that the first time he had seen the deal between the government, BOV and Steward was after it had already been signed.
Do you agree with the Prime Minister’s decision to apologise?
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