Malta’s ex-PM Muscat charged in connection with hospital sell-off scandal

Joseph Muscat, a former prime minister of Malta, is facing criminal charges in connection with a controversial deal to privatize three state-run hospitals.

Muscat — a former MEP who was prime minister from 2013 to 2020 — his former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former Cabinet minister Konrad Mizzi are among 19 people charged following a yearslong inquiry into alleged corruption when the three hospitals were sold to the Vitals Global Healthcare group in 2016.

The three have not been arrested, local media reported. The exact nature of the charges has not yet been revealed.

The Times of Malta reported last week that Chris Fearne, Malta’s EU funds minister who is believed to be a strong contender for the role of the country’s next European Commissioner, was also likely to be charged in connection with the hospitals deal. As of early Monday evening, that had not happened.

Fearne wrote on Facebook that he had “never broken any law or ministerial ethics.”

In late 2021 the Times of Malta reported that Muscat had received €60,000 from Accutor AG, a Swiss company linked to U.S. group Steward Health Care, which took over the hospitals contract from Vitals Global Healthcare in 2018. Muscat has always denied any wrongdoing.

In a post on Facebook on Monday, Muscat said: “This is no longer just a political vendetta, but has transformed itself into a disgrace and abomination where the lives of tens of people are being thrown into a bureaucratic landfill for years for the convenience of some.”

He added: “All those who tainted themselves with this injustice, or washed their hands from trying to correct it, will be judged in the harshest way by the people immediately, by justice over the years and by history forever. I am ready for the fight against those who want to take revenge on the Maltese.”

Muscat stepped down in January 2020 amid growing pressure over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in October 2017 after a car bomb detonated outside her home.