The Government continues to lie despite the clear arbitration ruling confirming that it failed to recover the €488 million it claimed from Steward as compensation, the Nationalist Party said in a statement, adding that the government lost.
On Monday, Parliament was debating the arbitration decision on the hospital scandal, following the acceptance of the request made yesterday by Opposition and PN Leader Alex Borg.
On Sunday, Alex Borg announced that he would insist the House of Representatives suspend discussion on the 2026 Budget estimates to urgently debate the international tribunal's ruling on the hospitals deal with Steward, "so that the Maltese and Gozitan people can finally know the full truth," the PN said.
"The Opposition's request for an urgent debate stems from the need for the Government to tell the Maltese and Gozitan people the truth following this ruling, which makes it abundantly clear that the victims in all of this are the people of Malta and Gozo. The actions of Robert Abela and his colleagues over the past week have raised more doubts than assurances about whether he is truly defending the interests of the Maltese people."
"The Maltese and Gozitan people have a right to know: How is it that the Government first denied that €400 million had been stolen, but now we learn that it agreed with what the Opposition had been saying all along, and itself sought to recover €488 million from Steward - a claim the arbitration rejected, proving that the Government lost?"
How is it that the Government initially used Adrian Delia's court case as the basis of its defence before the tribunal to demand this compensation, yet later blamed Adrian Delia for failing to get the money back, the PN also asked.
"Is it true that the international tribunal rejected this claim because of collusion between Steward and the Maltese Government - as confirmed by the Maltese Courts?"
"(Is it true) that the tribunal also rejected Steward's own claim for €158 million, and that Malta will not have to pay this penalty thanks to the Maltese Court rulings which rendered the contract and all side agreements null and void? This claim was based on a secret side agreement signed by Konrad Mizzi behind Cabinet's back but with the full support of Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri."
Above all, the Maltese people deserve to know how the Prime Minister, "through spin and abuse of state-controlled media, has come to celebrate a decision that in its very second paragraph clearly states that the Maltese and Gozitan people are the greatest losers in all this."
"The Government can twist the facts all it wants to make people believe a lie of its own making. But what the Maltese and Gozitan people want is to take back what is rightfully theirs. They want a healthcare system that gives them back what they paid for. They want the three new hospitals they were promised - which, to this day, exist only on paper."