Joseph Muscat has come under fire after a news report read that last year he received €60,000 in consultancy fees from a Swiss company that had received millions from Steward Health Care back in 2018, when the latter had taken over three hospitals in Malta.

Muscat was paid €60,000 to his BOV account in 2020, the Times of Malta reports, with the first payment having been made two months after he stepped down as Prime Minister for the country. The Swiss company in question, the report reads, received millions from Steward during the company's takeover of the hospital concession from Vitals Global Healthcare

The money reportedly came from two companies run by lawyer Wasay Bhatti, in the form of four payments. Two came from Spring X Media and two from Accutor AG. It reports that Steward Health Care had wired €3.6 million to Accutor, the majority of which was paid on 20 February 2018, the same day Steward declared it finalised the PPP agreement to takeover the three hospitals in Malta.

Following the revelations, Occupy Justice called for immediate investigation.

"Joseph Muscat awarded a government contract worth millions to a company which was paying millions to the same company he later billed for consultancy services. This is highly unethical and suspicious ."

 "OccupyJustice demands immediate investigations into the legality of these transactions by both the FIAU and the Police Force."

Civil Society Repubblika has also issued a statement. It said that the article raises a number of questions, including whether the police and Attorney General will do nothing.

Following the news report, Joseph Muscat took to Facebook. "The payments I received for assignments carried out over a number of months are nowhere near these amounts. But whoever gleams the headline is left unaware of this."

"The work I carried out over a number of months was not in any way related to projects related to the Maltese Government. It was spread over a number of countries, in different sectors, and is fully documented. All work and payments are fully declared, not as in the case of those who tried to rush and regularise their position with the tax authorities overnight because they were entering politics. I also did not do like those who first negotiated on behalf of government on large scale deals, and then went to lead the entity on the other side of the table," Muscat said.

"There are some who will never forgive me for helping bring about change in the country. They believe that I do not even have the right to work. But the more they insist, the more it is clear that these people still cannot offer an alternative for the country," he said.

Opposition Leader Bernard Grech also took aim at Muscat.  "We have a clear situation where there are serious allegations against Joseph Muscat, and we keep seeing the Prime Minister doing nothing. It is not acceptable Muscat must answer for what he did when he was a politician, and he must answer for what he continued doing afterwards as he had delicate information in hand."

"Whether it is true or not, Muscat has to explain and must give an account. It must be the Parliament to defend the rights of the people ask for explanations from politicians, regardless of who they were. Everyone must remain accountable."