Court upholds request by Repubblika for an inquiry into Vitals hospitals’ deal
8882 Mins Read
A magistrate has upheld a request for an inquiry into the controversial transfer of three public hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare.
The request was made by civil society group Repubblika in a 150-page application in May. The magistrate’s decision is to be appealed by the government.
The NGO had requested the probe to establish if there was criminal complicity by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and Economy Minister Chris Cardona in the transfer of St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals.
In a reaction to Thursday’s court decision, the three ministers said: “The ministers note that the Court of Magistrates did not pronounce itself on the merits of the case, and has not delved into the facts but only referred the allegations to an inquiring magistrate.
“The ministers contend that the allegations are speculative in nature and were made in bad faith by politically-motivated individuals.
“In terms of law, they therefore intend to make submissions to an appellate court for a revision of the magistrate’s decree.”
In her decree, Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit said the claim by the ministers that the allegations made by the application were based on conjectures made inmedia articles did not hold water in as far as her role was concerned. The allegations would be investigated by the inquiring magistrate in order to establish the truth. Were she to ignore everything that was said in the application and rely solely on what the ministers had said, she would be acting ultra vires as she would be taking the role of the inquiring magistrate.
The magistrate said she could not ignore the useful work of investigative journalists who had a crucial role in a democracy such as Malta’s to ensure that there was vigilance on matters which were of public interest. The information gathered by them in a serious manner as part of their investigations should be given the importance it deserved.
