Former Health Minister Louis Galea who was Minister during the construction of the first phase of Mater dei Hospital stressed that he did not know of any fraud on the Mater Dei Construction during that time.

On Monday, government released the iquiry report that was headed by Judge Philip Sciberras. The report reat that it was "naive” to consider that the previous government did not know what a dire state the project was in, particularly considering that the minister responsible for the hospital, Louis Galea, was also President of the Foundation for Medical Services (FMSS) at the time.

Louis Galea was Health Minister and Chairman of the FMSS until the October 1996 elections.

He said that he has already answered questions in front of the Board of inquiry on the issue of inferior concrete back on April 9.

He stressed that anyone who had anything to do with fraudulent action in the provision and testing of inferior quality concrete  be held responsible.

"While I intend to continue cooperating with the respective authorities in their investigations, contrary to the conclusions or insinuations made through the inquiry report,  I categorically say that the FMSS and Government never knew of the alleged fraud".

He also said that Government and the FMSS Board acted diligently and as objectively as possible in order to ensure that there were adequate control frameworks in place.

"There has never been any collusion on my part, and as far as I know, neither on the part of the FMSS Board during the time I was involved. He stressed that there was no collusion in any improper or illegal act, "as the report seems to imply in its conclusion".

"While experience shows that there are lessons to learn in order to avoid such situations in the future, one must not expect persons to uphold political responsibility for situations the authorities had no idea about. Fraud itself means deception and avoiding controls that are in place. As such, responsibility in this case must be carried by those who allegedly provided and tested the concrete fraudulently".

He was releasing his statement without prejudice to his reservations on the inquiry itself, the lack of evidence that backed certain testimonies and the evidence backing up some conclusions from the Board itself and also without prejudice to any investigations that might be ongoing.

Tests have shown that inferior concrete was used in certain parts of Mater Dei and that repairs would cost around 35 million euros.