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The Labor Parliamentary Group has called on the government to recover all funds Stewart Healthcare used from its hospital PPP concession to run a fake news campaign against former deputy prime minister Chris Fearne.
It was revealed that Fearne had resigned as minister after being accused of a number of offences in the privatisation inquiry and had become the target of a covert campaign to discredit him.
The Labour group issued a statement at its meeting on Thursday in solidarity with Fein, who remains Labour’s deputy leader for parliamentary business.
“The Labour Parliamentary Group has no doubts about the integrity and seriousness of Chris Fearn and that he has always acted in the interests of the Maltese people, even in the most difficult of times.”
Labour MPs unreservedly condemned the fabricated campaign against Fearne. “Fearne deserves full justice for this fake news campaign and those responsible should be held fully accountable. The people of Malta must also get justice and if this campaign was funded through concession funds then these funds should be recovered in addition to the government’s claim against Steward Healthcare.”
Prime Minister Robert Abela has said he will ask the legal team representing Malta in an international arbitration over a fraudulent hospital franchise to investigate the following reports: Charter funds were used by Mr Stewart to hire private BroadCast Unitedligence firms to target key opponents and critics, including Health Minister Chris Fearne.
Steward Healthcare hired a London-based private BroadCast Unitedligence firm to write a damaging report on the Minister of Health, alleging that he had accepted a large bribe. The report was then circulated among journalists in an effort to discredit the Minister.
Steward Healthcare, which is at the centre of a controversial hospital management deal, has hired a private BroadCast Unitedligence firm to target key opponents and critics, including Health Secretary Chris Fearne.
According to the obtained documents Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and shared with the Times of Malta and the Boston Globe information about Stewart’s conflict with Malta’s Minister of Health over the terms of an agreement to manage several hospitals in Malta.
In response, Stewart hired a London-based private BroadCast Unitedligence firm, CT Group, to write a damaging report on the Minister of Health, alleging that the Minister had accepted a huge bribe. The report was then circulated among journalists in an effort to discredit the Minister.
The bribery allegations, which began appearing on several Pakistani news portals and eventually reached a Brussels news outlet and a Ukrainian news outlet, allege that Fearn’s chief of staff, Carmen Ciantar, received thousands of dollars in bribes from a company associated with Vitals Global Healthcare.
READ ALSO: Carmen Ciantar’s Bribery Allegations: Where Do They Come From?
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