Opposition walks out of parliament: ‘Speaker making a parody of democracy’ on corrupt hospitals deal debate

The Opposition walked out of parliament on Thursday evening following a ruling by Speaker Anġlu Farrugia allowing the government additional speaking time on a motion presented by the PN on the “corrupt” hospitals deal, with PN Leader Bernard Grech calling it a “parody of democracy”.

Despite case law presented by the Opposition contradicting Farrugia’s ruling, the Speaker nevertheless allotted additional time to the government to make amendments to the motion presented by the Opposition.

The PN walked out of parliament, with Grech addressing the crowd of protestors outside parliament instead. Grech said the Speaker was complicit with the government in allowing them to weaken the presented motion.

In a parliamentary session characterised by vitriolic insults, constant delaying tactics by the government and back and forth arguments on case law between Opposition members and the Speaker, the proposed motion on the reimbursement of public funds spent on the fraudulent Vitals-Steward hospitals deal was not voted on, as the Opposition objected to proceedings.

During the parliamentary session, Prime Minister Robert Abela initially sought to absolve the government of any wrongdoing, claiming that the court sentence did not find the government responsible for the “fraudulent and corrupt” hospitals deal, despite the court ruling that the deal was premeditated by the parties involved.

In an about turn, Abela’s speech turned into a complete defence of Steward Health Care’s “contribution” to healthcare in the country.

In his listing of the so-called contributions of Steward Health Care, the prime minister focused on essential medical services and listed the number of medical procedures performed and other basic services offered, ignoring the fact that the wages were paid for by taxpayers and ignoring Steward’s failure to meet its contractual obligations on investment in the country’s medical services.

Emerging from parliament, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech addressed the substantial crowd gathered in front of parliament, saying Speaker Anġlu Farrugia had chosen to “abandon his obligation to the Maltese public”.

Describing the prime minister’s speech in parliament, Grech said, “Abela spent more than an hour defending and eulogising Vitals Global Healthcare and Steward Health Care”.

“Instead of choosing the public interest, Abela chose instead his own interests, those of the Labour Party and those of the fraudsters that continue enrich themselves from public coffers,” Grech added.

Abela went as far as saying that PN MP Adrian Delia’s victory in court, which resulted in a decision to return three hospitals to the public, held back the government’s ability to negotiate further with Steward Health Care.

The protest in front of parliament coincided with the monthly vigil held for assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was killed on 16 October 2017, five years and five months ago.

Grech paid tribute to Caruana Galzia, who had brought the fraudulent Vitals-Steward deal to the fore.

He said the prime minister was “not worthy of even mentioning her name”, citing the public inquiry into her assassination, which said that the government had created a “culture of impunity” that led to her murder.

This follows a statement by eight international press freedom organisations today demanding the full implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations “as a minimum”.

Grech also drew attention to the fact that the government has yet to implement “a single paragraph” of the public inquiry’s recommendations.

During the parliamentary session, Shadow Minister Stephen Spiteri drew attention to Steward Health Care’s appeal of the court decision, which was filed a day earlier, meaning that the country would have to wait for court proceedings before decisions on the deal are concluded.

On its part, Steward Health Care published a statement hours before the parliamentary debate announcing the termination of the agreement and expressing ‘disappointment’ in the government.

Steward said that “the government’s failure to appeal the Civil Court verdict that labelled its own behaviour corrupt is an admission of guilt in relation to its own governance failings”.