Ram Tumuluri sends legal threat to The Shift objecting to being called ‘an international scammer’

Ram Tumuluri, the former face of the “fraudulent“, failed concession of three public hospitals originally awarded to Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH), has sent a legal threat to The Shift taking exception to him being called “an international scammer” in a report by The Shift on his latest venture in Mumbai that attempts to replicate the Vitals Global Healthcare model in Malta.

Tumuluri’s lawyers objected to the quote of a statement by a member of the legislative assembly in India, cited in The Shift’s report drawn from The Indian Express, that referred to his intervention in parliament objecting to Tumuluri’s involvement in a project in India, citing Tumuluri’s past in Malta and Canada.

The article refers to how Tumuluri’s London-based company, Causis E-Mobility, was in the spotlight following a public procurement contract for electric buses that multiplied in size and value seven-fold following the contract being assigned.

On 18 March, Tumuluri’s lawyers Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates informed The Shift that the article in question must be modified to remove any reference to him as “a scammer”, or even linking him with Steward Health Care.

Steward Health Care, which bought Vitals Global Healthcare and with it a concession worth €4 billion, has admitted in court that the deal it took over was “fraudulent” and “corrupt“.

In its response, The Shift categorically refuted the claims advanced by Tumuluri’s firm and made it clear the article will not be amended or deleted.

“Kindly inform your client that my clients will not be removing or modifying a single syllable of the story to which your letter refers and in the event that Mr Tumuluri is minded to take this matter further, he will be required to testify in the courts of Malta on all material issues,” The Shift’s lawyer wrote back.

The response is in line with the stand taken by The Shift whenever similar legal threats have been sent to this newsroom, some involving the threat of financially crippling lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions (known as SLAPPs) issued by Henley & Partners, Russian banker Ruben Vardanyan, SOCAR representative Turab Musayev and Croatian Kristijan Curavić.