Institutions refuse to act on hospitals deal, Nationalist Party Leader Bernard Grech says
The State Advocate, Attorney General, and Commissioner of Police do not want to do their jobs, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.
This is why he and Adrian Delia have chosen to take the State Advocate to court over what they consider to be a clear refusal to act on the hospitals deal situation, Grech said during an interview on NET FM on Sunday.
On Tuesday, the Nationalist Party filed a court case against the State Advocate for not taking any action to recover the “defrauded” funds paid out by the government for the running of three hospitals it had passed on to private companies. Opposition Leader Bernard Grech and Nationalist MP Adrian Delia are arguing that the State Advocate, as “the last man standing in our constitutional system,” is not only empowered but also duty-bound to take action against present and past government officials involved in the deal. In the counter-reply, the State Advocate accused the Opposition leader and Delia of trying to use the Maltese courts to claim merit for something the government is already taking action on, stating that “the government opened proceedings in front of the International Chamber of Commerce last April and the timeline indicates the case is expected to be determined by the end of 2025.”
Speaking on Sunday, Grech said that along with Delia, he appealed for these institutions to take action and launch a case for the €400 million to be returned to the people, but that nothing of the sort has happened, and so he believes a case had to be opened.
The Nationalist Party leader added that the Court of Appeal earlier this year had made it clear that the government colluded with those who defrauded the Maltese and Gozitan people, and that the aforementioned institutions failed to work towards the interests of the people.
Grech continued that in the case the PN has now filed against the State Advocate, he emphasised “the facts that everyone knows and acknowledges,” referring to how the Court of Appeal said that “the Labour Government was an accomplice in the hospital deals fraud”.
He said that the PN remains focused on defending the country and will not allow anyone to intimidate them. “No one is going to shut us up,” he said, continuing that Robert Abela “may have shut up the institutions and taken control of everything to prevent steps from being taken,” but the PN will continue speaking out.
Grech concluded by saying that the Maltese people were defrauded through the hospitals deal and that the PN is here to defend the interests of the people.
“No one is going to stop us from doing our work.” He said that those in government and institutions who are supposed to be defending the people took a false oath and have failed to protect the interests of the people.