Vitals-Stewards deal enablers shirk responsibility, like the politicians

The table lists the enablers mentioned in the court judgment. Click on the arrow at the bottom of the table, or search to see more names.

Chris Fearne, now Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister, had been Parliamentary Secretary for Health under Konrad Mizzi. But after Mizzi’s resignation in disgrace in the Panama Papers fallout, he was fully responsible for the fraudulent deal, which he supported wholeheartedly.

Fearne was also personally responsible for the concession being sold from Vitals to Steward Health Care in 2017. So much so he even flew to Boston to consent for Vitals to transfer its shares over to Steward.

Despite this and other negotiations with Steward over the years since, and after approving additional, ever-increasing payments for Steward, he now says he is not to be held responsible.

Former Economy Minister Chris Cardona, who signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Vitals’ shareholders before the tender was even issued, for his part insists he was simply following orders from above.

Cardona’s cabinet colleague, former finance minister Edward Scicluna – the most empowered minister to stop the deal – also testified that he did not know anything even though tens of millions of euros were paid out of the State coffers for which he was directly responsible.

His permanent secretary, Alfred Camilleri, known for his no-nonsense approach under the previous Nationalist administration, was also a director of Projects Malta. This agency negotiated and finalised the deal for Konrad Mizzi.

Camilleri, however, insists he did not know anything either, even though he admitted he had never seen a tender like that for the three state hospitals in his long career.

Other political appointees known for their loyalty and beholden to Mizzi and other ministers similarly testified that they were unaware of anything untoward.

Evaluation and adjudication committee chairman James Camenzuli, who was aided by Nexia BT’s Manuel Castagna and the GWU’s financial factotum Robert Borg, played down his crucial role as one of Mizzi’s chief enablers of the deal.

Camenzuli told the court that due diligence had not been carried out and that “it was the government’s decision at the end of the day”.

Camenzuli has been retained by Muscat’s successor, Prime Minister Robert Abela and is now responsible for millions of euros in disbursements for renewable energy subsidies granted by the Regulator for Energy and Water Services (REWS). He is also the chief executive officer at Projects Plus, a Projects Malta subsidiary.

Other prime enablers include Ronald Mizzi, Konrad Mizzi’s former permanent secretary, who was involved in many aspects of Mizzi’s shady deals. Also included in the list is David Galea, Mizzi’s childhood friend and a consultant on all the Muscat triumvirate’s major projects.

A magisterial inquiry was launched in 2019. It is expected to name the protagonists and enablers who are to face actual criminal charges for fraud, misappropriation, money laundering and other criminal acts. That inquiry is still in the works four years, and a damning National Audit Office report later.