This week’s developments in Court on the criminal charges which are currently being faced by various persons relative to the Vitals Hospitals’ scam are not new. We have heard the same stories many times. The difference at this point in time is that they are being collated together revealing to one and all that in these ten years the Labour Party in government has developed the arms of government into those of a criminal state.

The intentions of the Labour Party leadership were clear from day one. The setting up of three companies in Panama, a secret jurisdiction, by Nexia BT through Mossack Fonseca in the first days of the Labour government gave the immediate indications laying the groundwork to eventually be able to utilize the fruits resulting from the fraudulent administration of the country’s assets. The inconclusive magisterial investigation as to the ownership of one of the companies, Egrant Inc, adds a further twist to the whole saga. We still await the definite identification of the real Egrant owners.

The Auditor General, Charles Deguara, giving evidence in Court this week, reminded us that the request for proposals which the Labour government issued relative to the privatisation of the hospitals was in fact awarded five months before it was even issued. This was as a result of the secret memorandum of understanding signed by the Labour Government on 10 October 2014 with a group of investors who eventually formed Vitals Global Health Care.

Some months ago, the Court of Appeal had explained the matter in very clear language. While emphasizing the fraudulent nature of the hospitals’ deal, the Court of Appeal had then stated that it believed that there was collusion: senior government officials were complicit in the privatisation fraud.

Collusion, as readers are aware, is secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy intended to deceive!

It is pertinent to note that the Auditor General has published three detailed reports on the Vitals Hospital fraud: more than 1,000 pages long.  In the first of these reports issued in 2020 (four years ago) the Auditor General had already been very clear on the role of the state in directing this fraud. The hospital concession, the Auditor General had then reported, appeared to be predetermined in order to ensure an already agreed outcome.

Should matters have arrived at this point?

It has taken a long time for this fraudulent exercise to be uncovered and brought under control. Yet, had the state institutions functioned properly it should have been nipped in the bud and never even happened.

The current criminal proceedings will eventually lead to a conclusion as to whether each of the persons accused of the multitude of crimes leading to the hospital fraud is guilty or not. Possibly the monies generated as a result of the fraudulent privatisation process will be located and confiscated.

The basic issue is however still unaddressed and unresolved.

What about the institutions that failed us? The civil service and the police force top the list of the institutions which were captured by the criminals running the state.

The failure of the institutions to carry out their duties transformed them into tentacles of the criminal state.

What was the role of the civil service in the creation of this mess? The presence of three Permanent Secretaries (and other civil servants) among those facing criminal charges indicates that the inquiring magistrate may have possibly identified an answer to this question. An answer which we do not find in the Auditor General’s three reports on the Vitals mess!

We need a civil service which can withstand the pressures and manipulations of holders of political office with criminal intent. We need a detoxified police force which acts without fear or favour. Instead, we have the tentacles of a criminal state. It is a matter which, to date, is still unaddressed and unresolved. We are still at the mercy of the criminal state.

It is not only the corrupt who have a case to answer. Those who had the duty to act and stopped in their tracks, as a result failing to act, are equally responsible for the mess.

An architect and civil engineer, the author is a former Chairperson of ADPD-The Green Party in Malta.  [email protected] ,   http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com