An international arbitration tribunal has rejected Steward Healthcare's claim that the government had unlawfully terminated the hospitals concession agreement, the government said in a statement on Monday.
But it also said that the arbitration decision awards no damages to either side.
The Government of Malta on Monday morning received a copy of the decision delivered by the arbitration tribunal in the international arbitration proceedings involving Steward Healthcare and rendered under the Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
"The tribunal upheld the Government's primary defence and rejected Steward Healthcare's contractual claim of circa €148 million," the government of Malta said.
"The arbitral tribunal has rejected Steward's claims and applied the restitution principles in accordance with Maltese Law. No damages have been awarded to either party. The arbitral tribunal has recognised that Malta received fair value for services delivered by Steward and payments made by the Government of Malta under the concession."
"According to the ICC award, the total benefits received by the Government of Malta stand at €889,434,091 while the benefits received by Steward Healthcare stand at €884,644,629, with a shortfall of €4.78 million owed to Steward Health Care," the government said.
The ICC tribunal rejected Steward's claim that the Government of Malta had unlawfully terminated the concession and owed it contractual damages, the government of Malta added.
The Government said that it will continue reviewing the full decision with the State Advocate and its legal advisors to consider the legal implications of the award.
"The outcome of the arbitration proceedings vindicates the Government's approach in protecting the national interest and ensures that public resources continue to be managed in the best interests of Maltese citizens," the government said.
The Government added that it thanks the civil servants and legal advisors who assisted in safeguarding the public interest in this matter.
"Further information will be provided once the Government's legal team completes its assessment of the tribunal's detailed findings."
The concession agreement over the hospitals deal had been annulled by the Maltese courts in February 2023 in a judgement that mentioned fraud, following a case filed by Adrian Delia who was the PN Leader at the time. A court of appeal had confirmed the decision later that year.
The Nationalist Party has long said that €400 million is owed to the public for the hospitals' deal, and that the government should recover it.
Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation welcomes decision
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation welcomed the decision of the International Chamber of Commerce.
"In line with our mission to promote justice and accountability in cases of high-level corruption, we submitted an amicus curiae brief to the ICC Tribunal in March 2025 and are satisfied that this has helped achieve a positive outcome for Malta. Our submission provided the Tribunal with information we obtained through our continuation of Daphne Caruana Galizia's original investigations into the fraudulent public hospitals concession at the centre of the proceedings - an issue Daphne first exposed, and on which she continued to report, on her blog, Running Commentary. Through our intervention, we sought to assist the Tribunal in ensuring that the Maltese public interest, and the significant public resources placed at risk through the hospitals deal, are protected in the course of the ICC proceedings," the foundation said.