Opposition places St Philip’s deal on PAC agenda

Labour MP and chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Charles Mangion has tabled a request to include the St Philip's Hospital deal on the next committee meeting's agenda.

The Labour MP is proposing that the committee should scrutinise the deal during the next PAC meeting, scheduled for Wednesday 24 October.

The committee members have been given up to Friday 19 October to raise any objections or approve the agenda.

Apart from Mangion, the committee is composed of transport minister Austin Gatt, finance minister Tonio Fenech, Nationalist MPs Robert Arrigo and Philip Mifsud and Labour MPs  Evarist Bartolo and Helena Dalli.

The Opposition is demanding that the deal is scrutinized in detail before the agreement is signed. However, the government is adamant that the deal does not need to be analysed by Parliament before it is signed.

On Monday evening, a request tabled by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat led both sides of the House to a debate on the government's decision to steam ahead with the €12 million lease-and-buy option for the private St Philip's Hospital.

The three-hour debate was not conditional on a vote, since parliament was not discussing a motion. On Tuesday, Muscat reiterated that "The window of opportunity is still open. There is still time to take the deal before the Public Accounts Committee as long as the deal has not been signed yet."

Muscat once again dismissed the government's proposal that the hospital acquisition be scrutinised by the PAC after it is signed. "There is little point in conducting an autopsy after the act," Muscat insisted.