PN MP Adrian Delia has accused Prime Minister Robert Abela of “mocking the Maltese and Gozitan people” after the government claimed victory in the international arbitration case over the Vitals–Steward hospitals concession, and challenged him, as well as former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, to show him where €900 million in hospitals’ funds went.

Speaking in front of St Luke’s Hospital on Tuesday, Delia said that Abela and the government is “lying to the public” about the outcome of the Vitals–Steward hospitals arbitration case, insisting that Malta did not win and that the public had been defrauded.

Delia said that the arbitration confirmed the government’s loss.

“Yesterday, the Prime Minister came out singing victory and laughing at the Maltese and Gozitan people. They made their case before the arbitration tribunal, lost it, and are now trying to convince everyone that they won,” Delia said.

Delia said the hospitals concession was “the biggest fraud ever committed against the Maltese people”, adding that the government had initially signed the deal in secret and even held the arbitration proceedings abroad, in secret, to avoid public scrutiny.

“Public procurement means transparency. Yet this government signed an agreement that made everything secret, and signed it outside Malta,” Delia said.

He said that the Maltese courts had already annulled the hospitals deal after finding fraud, but said the government continued to deceive the public instead of recovering the stolen funds.

“The Prime Minister swore he would recover every cent that was stolen from us, but instead of defending the people, he is mocking them and lying about a false victory,” Delia said.

“This arbitration did not give Malta a win. Steward lost nothing, and the government lost its counterclaim,” Delia said.

Standing in front of St Luke’s Hospital, Delia pointed to the state of the derelict building, saying it symbolised the government’s failure to deliver on its promises of investment.

“We were promised €900 million in investment, not €400 million, to build a new Gozo Hospital, refurbish Karin Grech, and refurbish and add 400 beds to St Luke’s,” he said.

“I challenge the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to come here and show us where that €900 million went. Show us the receipts,” Delia said.

Delia also challenged former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, asking whether he now considered the deal a success.

“If Joseph Muscat claims this shows there was no fraud, then who filed the fraud claim, Steward or the Maltese government? This is proof of the government’s complicity and of Abela being under Muscat’s blackmail,” Delia said.

Delia said that instead of defending Malta, Abela lied to cover for those responsible.

PN health spokesperson Stephen Spiteri said that the Labour government had left Malta with a “failed and costly contract” that produced no new hospitals and worsened the state of existing ones.

“This is no victory, it is a loss for the public. We did not just lose €900 million; we lost years that could have been used to build proper healthcare infrastructure,” Spiteri said.

He said that the Labour Party in Opposition had once criticised Mater Dei Hospital as being too small for the population, yet today, despite population growth, Malta still has just one functioning main hospital.

“At Karin Grech, where we should have excellence in elderly and long-term care, we find total failure. In Gozo, the promised new hospital never materialised,” he said.

Spiteri said the PN is offering solutions to ease the burden on emergency and outpatient services, to invest in mental health, and to build infrastructure that matches Malta’s growing population.

“We never needed to privatise these hospitals. This was a complete failure,” he said.

Answering a question by TVM, Delia said the PN had chosen the location of St Luke’s Hospital to send a message.

“I challenge the Prime Minister, the previous and current Ministers for Finance, and the former Prime Minister to come here and show us where the €900 million were spent, and we’ll show them where the €400 million came from. Let them tell us the date, the time, and the figures. The government is lying. This is my invitation, I challenge them,” Delia said.

He accused the government of lying and hiding behind secrecy, saying public procurement should always be open to public scrutiny.

“The government is lying. In public procurement, transparency is a legal requirement, everything must be reviewed openly in this country. Yet the government chose to go abroad, where proceedings are secret and closed to any form of scrutiny,” he said.

“Why did they choose a closed arbitration process from the very beginning, when this was a public concession involving public funds?”

Delia urged the government to publish the arbitration ruling in full, and accused the government of taking the process abroad to continue deceiving the public.

“Publish what you said, what you requested. Even if government only asked for €100 million, the government still lost its counterclaim. The question is: why? In five years, they have shown us nothing about how this money was spent. They spent €900 million, did we get our money’s worth?” he asked.

In reaction, the Labour Party said that “every euro paid to the contractor was certified by an independent tribunal that the work was carried out. That’s the reality that burst the balloon in the Nationalist Party’s face, after years of claiming that €400 million were stolen. There comes a point in communication where the spin becomes so unbelievable in the face of clear facts that the only people who believe it are the ones saying it.”