Copyright maltatoday
Momentum claims that Prime Minister Robert Abela is trying to whitewash the hospital concession granted to Vitals Global Healthcare and Steward Health Care. “The Maltese people deserve transparency, accountability, and justice. Instead, they have been met with hostile rhetoric, attacks on the judiciary, and a refusal to accept responsibility,” Momentum Chairperson Arnold Cassola said. “The fact remains: no hospitals were built, no upgrades were delivered, and public funds were squandered.” On Tuesday, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal ruling turned down claims by Steward Healthcare that the government unlawfully terminated its healthcare concession. The tribunal dismissed Steward Healthcare’s contractual claim of approximately €148 million, upholding the government’s primary defence. Steward Health Care had filed arbitration proceedings after a Maltese judge quashed the hospital's concession deal. Momentum said that the recent arbitration ruling by the ICC has failed to deliver justice to the Maltese people. The party said that, despite governmental promises, “not a single cent has been recovered from the alleged hundreds of millions paid out under this deal”. It said that the public has been left with no new hospital in Gozo, an erelict and semi-abandoned St Luke’s hospital with “no tangible improvements in the healthcare system, only empty promises and a legacy of mismanagement and deceit”. Referring to Abela’s reaction, they said that it is nothing short of a deliberate distortion of reality. They said that his attempts to cast doubt on the judiciary, undermine the credibility of the inquiry, and portray the outcome as a vindication of his government “are deeply troubling”. “This is not leadership; it is damage control for a failed administration that has consistently placed political loyalty above the public interest. Once again, Abela is showing that he is held hostage by the toxic legacy of the Joseph Muscat administration.”
