Steward threatens MaltaToday with €25,000 SLAPP action in Spain court

The private hospitals group Steward, whose multi-million deal in Malta was rescinded by a Maltese judge, has filed a damaging lawsuit against MaltaToday and journalist Matthew Vella, in Spain. 

The lawsuit, alleging defamation from the newspaper’s report on allegations made by  short sellers and financial investigators Viceroy, is demanding €25,000 in damages from the newspaper. 

The prohibitive costs of any lawsuit in a foreign court, made in the wake of Steward Healthcare’s call to the Maltese government to have Vella himself investigated over his report back in February 2023, amount to a SLAPP action (strategic lawsuit against public participation). 

“This is a serious matter that undermines our right to exercise free journalism,” Mediatoday managing director Saviour Balzan and MaltaToday Executive Editor Kurt Sansone said, in a letter to the Prime Minister of Malta alerting the government to the SLAPP action. 

“In light of the proposals made by the Committee of Media Experts last year, and other requests made to the government by the Institute of Maltese Journalists and other Maltese and international organisations for the introduction of an anti-SLAPP law, it is now opportune that the Maltese government kick-starts this process as soon as possible to ensure the Maltese media and journalists have legal protection from SLAPP cases,” the letter reads. 

Sansone told MaltaToday the action instituted by Steward in Spain not only threatened the journalist’s right to freedom of expression but risked stifling public participation in a debate of national interest. “We stand four-square behind Matthew Vella, who was only exercising his right to bring to the public’s attention a matter that was pertinent to the ongoing controversy in Malta,” Sansone added.  

Spanish lawsuit 

Steward Health Care International (SCHI), now based in Madrid, was running three Maltese state hospitals in a controversial public-private concession that suffered a court-ordered rescission in 2023. The matter is now the subject of international arbitration between Steward and the Maltese government. 

In February 2023 – shortly before the rescission case – Steward accused Matthew Vella of “colluding” with Viceroy, by reporting on its allegations that American real estate giant Medical Properties Trust (MPT) and Steward had over-inflated asset values in various business transactions. MPT is suing Viceroy in the United States over these allegations. 

Vella reported on the allegations made by Viceroy, which claimed Steward and MPT had over-inflated asset values. 

In their Spanish lawsuit, Steward take issue with MaltaToday’s reporting of the Viceroy reports and set the cost to their international reputation at €25,000. If found guilty, Steward want the Spanish court to order MaltaToday to communicate the decision in the Financial Times, Le Soir, and the Wall Street Journal. 

MaltaToday and Vella are now in procedural default of the claim, having been unable to notify the Spanish court with a legal reply within 20 days of the lawsuit being filed. 

Steward knew in advance of report 

Vella, who had already queried Steward back in February 2022 about a separate joint venture between its management and MPT, shared with Viceroy’s researchers the comments he had received from the hospitals’ Malta spokesperson at the time. 

Viceroy’s research, based on Maltese, English, and Spanish company filings, alleged that SCHI is connected to Steward Systems and MPT in the United States, by means of a small group of Delaware companies called Manolete. 

Vella then requested a comment from SCHI’s media representatives in Malta, JPA, on the Viceroy reports about MPT. JPA first said the hospital group would not comment on the allegations; then came back with a comment, which was reported in full. Vella also told the JPA representative that he had shared the original reply from SCHI he had received back in February 2022 with Viceroy, which were published in their latest report on MPT.