[WATCH] Bernard Grech says Prime Minister is ‘losing grip on events’

Bernard Grech said events were slipping out of Robert Abela’s control despite the Prime Minister resisting attempts for the Vitals inquiry to be exhibited in a civil law suit.

The Opposition leader was speaking outside the court after another sitting in the case instituted by the Nationalist Party to force the State Advocate to recover the €400 million spent on the hospitals deal.

Grech told reporters that he was “amazed how, the day after MaltaToday took the courageous step of publishing that which the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and Joseph Muscat wanted to hide… Robert Abela objected that this inquiry, which has been in his hands for over two weeks, be exhibited.”

Read the Vitals inquiry here.

“Yesterday we found out why Robert Abela didn’t want this to be published and was doing everything in court to stop it… because it emerges that in 2021, Robert Abela knew the deal was fraudulent, but continued to pay millions to Steward,” the Opposition leader said.

Grech commented on the Prime Minister’s earlier behaviour in court when he objected loudly to the inquiry being exhibited in the court case.

 “Today thanks to MaltaToday, thanks to the Times of Malta, the people have all the facts before them, but not the court, because Robert Abela is holding back and has objected with all his strength, even shouting in the courtroom, to the publication of this inquiry,” he said.

“Personally, it is clear that Robert Abela is aware of his complicity… because he knows and now he doesn’t want the court which will decide whether the State Adovcate has the autonomy to bring back the €400 million to the people, to know how involved he was,” the Opposition leader said. He added: “We are now reaching worrying levels; this is a Prime Minister who clearly is acting in a very dangerous manner. A PM who has lost his grip on things, because if you lie today, lie tomorrow, mess around today, mess around tomorrow, things will blow up in your face. And this is what has happened to him.”

READ ALSO: Abela says ‘let the institutions work’ when asked whether Vitals inquiry findings concern him

Describing the Prime Minister’s recent actions as “erratic and worrying,” Grech said Abela “has lost all semblance of control, shouting in the courtroom. I say that this is a Prime Minister, who is not only controlled and not only, as I said yesterday, possessed, but a Prime Minister who is desperate.”

Grech said the PN would continue to apply pressure on the government. “Let us understand that the Maltese people have been robbed. Now we have documentary evidence that the millions that were stolen, changed hands and were distributed between those whose duty it was to protect us.”

“Robert Abela knew this over three years ago,” Grech said. He noted that two years ago the PN had urged the government to stop making payments to Steward Health Care but the government had “persisted even though it knew the deal was fraudulent.”

Emails showed that Abela had been aware of the situation three years ago, Grech told reporters. “But instead of working in the interests of the people, he helped the interests of criminals.”

Grech said it was clear that the institutions aren’t working well enough. “The court today rebuked the institutions and said that if this country doesn’t have the capacity and systems to ensure that things are done well, it means that this country has a problem. The judge said this in open court. Therefore, we have an obligation and are taking on this duty and will continue to apply pressure on the government, through every possible legal and legitimate means,” Grech said.

READ ALSO: Vitals inquiry | Grand Theft Malta