James Debono
Former Health Minister Louis Deguara has made it clear that his ministry was never responsible for any decision related to contracts awarded to private companies in Mater Dei, contradicting Finance Minister Tonio Fenech’s claim that questions on these contracts should be addressed to the Health Ministry, which fell under Louis Deguara’s responsibility when the contracts were awarded.
Asked by Saviour Balzan during last Tuesday’s Reporter whether he “regrets the expenditure on contracts awarded to private companies related to security arrangements, parking and maintenance” in Mater Dei Hospital, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech was prompt to pass the buck on former health minister.
“You should address those questions to the Ministry concerned,” Fenech replied.
But when contacted by MaltaToday, Louis Deguara denied taking any part in the decision.
“This is wrong because my ministry never had a say on any decision related to contracts awarded to companies operating in Mater Dei. This was the responsibility of the Finance Ministry.”
While denying having any say on the awarding of the tender, Deguara acknowledged that his ministry had made recommendations regarding security arrangements and the maintenance at Mater Dei.
During the programme Fenech insisted that the decision to farm out security and maintenance at Mater Dei, instead of using the services of security guards and maintenance workers already in place at St Luke’s hospital, was taken following discussions with the Health Ministry.
“This is correct because we felt that the security guards at St Luke’s should be used at St Vincent de Paul and health centres, rather than be relocated at Mater Dei.”
Deguara also acknowledged that the health ministry had recommended that maintenance work should be conducted by the company responsible for the installation of new equipment at Mater Dei.
“This was done to ensure that in the case of any fault the new company would not blame it on the hospital’s maintenance.”
But Deguara squarely denied that his ministry was in any way involved in the tendering process for parking and cleaning services.
“We were not even involved in the clauses of the parking contract, as this was the direct responsibility of the Ministry for Finance,” Deguara said.
In August, MaltaToday revealed that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had issued a direct tender for a year of under €2 million to Group 4 Securitas (G4S) for internal security arrangements inside Mater Dei Hospital, just two and a half months before the 8 March general election.
The contract period has now been reduced to seven months, supposedly terminating in July, by social policy minister John Dalli, who has told MaltaToday the payment was reduced to €1.08 million for seven months.
In a reply to MaltaToday, the government said that the contract was negotiated “as a continuation of the service” that G4S had previously provided Skanska, the Swedish firm entrusted with the construction of Mater Dei. G4S was in fact allowed to extend the previous security contract it held with Skanska, until after the 1 January 2008 handover to government, but without a public tender being issued.