At present one of the hot issues in Malta (for indeed, unfortunately, there are others) is the Vitals Healthcare mess.

respect of Bluestone Special Situation #4 Limited (the BVI company that purportedly won the bid),” according to court documents.”

The Request for Proposals by the government was issued in March 2015, and yet in November 2014 the investors’ agreement states that Rattehalli, Tumuluri and Pawley through their respective companies have “entered into an agreement with the Government of Malta to build, develop and manage [a] world class healthcare facility in Gozo.”

One must remember that all through this saga, the name/s of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner of Vitals has never been revealed. The names of the people associated with the venture were not known in healthcare circles. And there is a theory that one issue that may have spurred the sudden termination of the Vitals management of the three hospitals could have been the coming into effect on 1 January of an EU directive that enforces revelation of the UBOs of companies.

The country must also be given an account of how the money spent by the government and given to Vitals was used. Maybe too the country must also get to know whether Vitals made a profit for themselves out of the deal.

Government spokespersons have said that the money went to finance salaries of the people employed by the hospitals but then others have said the employees were paid out of government funds. If so, what happened to the rest of the funds?

There must be a full and exhaustive investigation into all this and, sorry, we do not trust this investigation to be carried out by offices and persons who in one way or another fall subject to the government. We do not want another investigation that whitewashes things and all come out smelling as roses. Only an institution that is completely outside the grip of the Maltese government should be entrusted with this investigation – and saying this speaks volumes about present-day Malta.