The Burmarrad home of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was searched by the police on Wednesday as part of investigations into the deal transferring three public hospitals to the private sector, Muscat said.

The search started at 7am when officers turned up at his home, Muscat said in a message on Facebook. They spent three hours, and seized Muscat's mobile phone, together with those belonging to his wife and two daughters.

Muscat said he was only half-surprised by the visit, as he had been hearing of such rumours since last Sunday, spearheaded by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.

Muscat said he gave investigators a file with documents related to his services to Accutor AG.

Last November, it had been reported that the former prime minister had received €60,000 from Accutor AG, a company which in turn pocketed millions from Steward Healthcare when it took over a contract, from Vitals, to run St Luke's Hospital, Gozo Hospital and Karen Grech Hospital.

The search forms part of a magisterial inquiry into the deal, prompted by NGO Repubblika in 2019.

In his message on the social media, Muscat said he had always been ready to cooperate.

Muscat said he gave the police a file that had been prepared since November. "In November I asked to testify in the inquiry. The file contains documented proof of the work I did. None of the work has anything to do with the Maltese hospitals," he insisted. 

The former PM said that the payment he had received was for services rendered and that he had paid taxes on his income.

"There is also proof of the trips abroad I took related to this work. I gave this immediately to the experts," Muscat said.

Muscat, who resigned in early 2020 after his office was linked to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, said that police could have avoided the theatrics and he could have been asked to hand over the documents without the "excessive" action taken, such as the decision to seize his daughters' phones. If the police find that they have a boyfriend they can tell me, he remarked.

He hinted that the search was orchestrated by someone who "wanted to pass on a message," but did not elaborate further. 

 

Muscat said he wanted the inquiry to be credible but the way things happened had dented its credibility. For Azzopardi and journalists to know about the search in his home days before it happened did not sound right, he said.

The search of his home was only to humiliate him, Muscat said. But he said he will not be intimidated by what happened.

If the intention was to shut him up, the effect will be the opposite, he said. 

He said he had spent two years mostly in silence since the resignation, but after he will celebrate his birthday on Saturday, his intention was to be more present, on the social media and elsewhere.

 

Muscat 'threatened' Abela - Grech

In a Facebook post, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said Muscat had again “threatened” Robert Abela.

“He gave the impression that Abela intervened with the police to humiliate him. This after a police raid that was planned to serve Abela’s electoral interests.”

Grech said Muscat had admitted that he had many months to prepare his defence. “It is evident that Robert Abela and his government are alienated on serious internal problems. The PN augurs that the country moves from these Labour theatrics to serious and just governance where the police are allowed to work in serenity.”