A Swiss firm that paid Joseph Muscat as a ‘consultant’ had a secret deal to receive 30% of Steward’s dividends from its hospitals deal
Report exposes plans to share hospital profits via firm linked to Joseph Muscat
E-mails obtained by OCCRP and shared with Times of Malta indicate the payments via Swiss Accutor Consulting were intended for Pakistani businessman Shaukat Ali.
Ali previously held a hidden interest in Vitals Global Healthcare and faces charges of forming a criminal organisation with Joseph Muscat, Accutor owner Wasay Bhatti and others in connection with the “fraudulent” hospitals deal.
A magisterial inquiry into the deal which led prosecutors to file charges against Muscat and dozens of others only mentions this secret plan in passing.
It granted Swiss-based Accutor participation rights in Steward Gobal Healthcare’s Maltese operations – essentially a 30% share of profits through dividends and earnings.
Accutor-owner Bhatti put Joseph Muscat on a €15,000-per-month consultancy nine months after the secret profit-sharing agreement was signed.
Muscat received four payments totalling €60,000, two of which came from Accutor Consulting.
Emails indicate that the “substantial debts” Steward Malta faced meant no dividends were paid out prior to a court’s termination of the hospitals contract in 2023.
Steward Malta did however pay over €7 million to Accutor between 2018 and 2020 for “political consultants”, “jet expenses”, “lobbying” and “payroll services”.
Adrian Delia, the PN’s spokesperson for health, said the latest developments further confirmed fraud in the granting of the hospitals concession.
Delia said they showed secret manoeuvres to rob the people of Malta and Gozo, undermining their health.
Cover Image Inset: Shaukat Ali
