Chris Fearne resigns from Labour Cabinet, withdraws Commissioner nomination

The deputy prime minister Chris Fearne has resigned from the government’s Cabinet, in the wake of criminal charges filed against him on the controversial privatisation of state hospitals that have engulfed the Labour administration.

Fearne, who is currently deputy Labour Party leader for parliamentary affairs, will resign as deputy PM as well as minister for reforms, and announced he was withdrawing his nomination for European Commissioner. “I thank you for the opportunity to serve my country. It has been the greatest honour of my life,” Fearne told Prime Minister Robert Abela in his letter of resignation.

Abela wrote back asking Fearne to reconsider his decision. “In the country’s most trying moments, I found in you a shoulder to bear the weight and the country certainly benefited from your abilities, as noted at an international level,” he said in a letter released to the public. Fearne replied at 5:40pm, saying he would stick to his decision not to stay on as a Cabinet member.

Chris Fearne is to be charged with defrauding the government through deceit and misappropriation of funds, according to the recommendations of the magisterial inquiry to the Attorney General. More serious accusations of money laundering have been filed against former prime minister Joseph Muscat.

“I am resigning with immediate effect from the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Government. Having the same respect for European institutions I also ask that my nomination to the College of European Commissioners is withdrawn. My solitary and humble hope is that the judicial process to clear my name is expeditious. If, upon its conclusion, the country calls on me to serve again, it shall find me ready,” Fearne said in his letter of resignation to Robert Abela.

Fearne, a paediatric surgeon who was elected in 2013 as a Labour MP and appointed parliamentary secretary for health in 2014, said in his letter that was not privy to the contents of the magisterial inquiry that has recommended charges against him, former ministers Edward Scicluna and Konrad Mizzi, as well as former prime minister Joseph Muscat.

“I would have preferred to have been notified of the charges and the proces-verbal of the magisterial inquiry regarding VGH/Steward before I acted. However since it seems that this process will take time, it is not possible for me to delay any longer. The country, including its democratic and European institutions, deserve no less,” Fearne wrote in his resignation letter.

Fearne has said he is unaware of what the alleged charges against him are based on. “I know what I have done and haven’t done as a minister. No one can be as certain as I that the Court’s proceedings in my regard will confirm my absolute innocence.”

He also said that in the three reports conducted by the National Audit Office on the VGH-Steward privatisation, he had been absolved from wrongdoing, having emphasised “the omission of the Minister for Health from any meaningful involvement on the fate of this public health-related concession.” 

Fearne was promoted to minister for health after the demotion of Konrad Mizzi in 2016, who was implicated in the Panama Papers and lost his energy policy and health portfolio.

Fearne said in his resignation that he had “acted with integrity, rectitude, and strictly within the confines of the law.”

He had already informed Labour MPs that he would resign if faced with any criminal charges on the hospitals’ privatisation.

“My parents brought me up to do what is right in all circumstances. I always did so and will continue to do so. Political integrity, the institutions of a European and democratic nation, the oath of office as minister of government, and the loyalty I have to our party to whom I have dedicated my life, demand that I do so again. In these circumstances – and because I fully respect the institutions – I cannot continue to comfortably serve these sacred obligations as I have always done. My political duty is solely to uphold the best interests of the country, its institutions and its people,” Fearne said.

Bernard Grech reaction

Opposition leader Bernard Grech said that following Fearne’s resignation, all other sitting government members and civil servants implicated in the charges had to follow suit.

“Abela is now obliged to remove Edward Scicluna from Central Bank governor, and in the absence of that, Scicluna has to resign on his steam. Abela is obliged to remove Ronald Mizzi from education ministry permanent secretary, and anyone accused in this case who occupies a public role has to resign or be sacked,” Grech said.

Grech said Abela was wrong in insisting that such government members could keep occupying their roles while facing criminal charges. “Abela is not reading the situation… this is an irreversible process that has to take its course, and Abela is wrong in trying to stop it. It is now more important than ever that Abela publishes the magisterial inquiry, so that the people will know the truth. This is the moment of truth.”