Vitals inquiry forensic expert’s integrity questioned in judicial letter

The integrity of an Irish forensic expert who worked on the Vitals hospitals inquiry is being questioned by former finance permanent secretary Alfred Camilleri.

Camilleri has accused the expert of using his privileged position as a court expert with access to confidential information to seek a €1 million contract as a police consultant.

Camilleri is one of several individuals accused of wrongdoing in the corrupt hospitals deal. He was among a second batch of individuals charged with lesser crimes in connection with the hospitals concession agreement.

Camilleri is pleading not guilty to fraud, misappropriation and committing crimes he was duty bound to prevent.

The claims against forensic expert Samuel Sittlington were made in a judicial letter filed on Tuesday by Camilleri’s lawyers, Franco Debono, Stefano Filletti and Maurice Meli.

The lawyers alleged that Sittlington offered the Malta Police Force a consultancy deal “worth close to €1 million” while he was working on the Vitals magisterial inquiry.

The judicial letter claims that Sittlington’s final report was riddled with “inaccuracies and blatant conjectures” which exposed his flagrant conflict of interest and lack of impartiality as an expert.

But the court filing also notes that Sittlington’s behaviour in Malta was similar to that he had shown in Guyana five years ago when he was engaged with that country’s financial crimes investigation body as a consultant.

The circumstances surrounding Sittlington’s report in the Vitals inquiry were “suspiciously similar if not identical” to the expert’s involvement in a previous case in Guyana, Camilleri's lawyers said.

In 2018, Sittlington was tasked by the UK authorities to assist the Special Organised Crime Unit in Guyana in investigating and prosecuting a number of persons suspected of involvement in high-profile financial crimes.

However, while on the job, Sittlington set up a private company, called The Fraud Company (Guyana) Inc, using his privileged position to expand his private business interests.

Guyanese media reported that the UK government had terminated Sittlington’s contract with immediate effect when the reports surfaced.

Camilleri’s lawyers are alleging the expert attempted to repeat his act while working on the Vitals inquiry by trying to sell his services to the police corps.

“Whilst billing for your work on the inquiry you wanted to significantly increase your profits by commercialising the sensitive and confidential information you came to know about in the inquiry just as you did in Guyana. However, your attempt in Malta failed,” the judicial letter reads.

The lawyers said this casts doubt on the expert’s conclusions in the Vitals report which led to criminal action being “unjustly” pressed against Camilleri causing him “irreparable harm and damages.”

Camilleri informed Sittlington that he was being held personally and directly responsible for damages suffered as a result of his direct contribution in the Vitals inquiry.

Read the Vitals inquiry here.