Tumuluri tells US Congress that Steward boss boasted about bribing Malta politicos

The one-time CEO of Vitals Global Healthcare, the private-public company hand-picked by the Muscat administration to run three state hospitals, has alleged that Steward boss Ralph de la Torre boasted he could bribe Maltese government officials to close deals on the hospitals PPP.

Steward took over in 2017 from VGH after the company failed to secure financing to achieve its contractual milestones on the St Luke’s, Karin Grech, and Gozo hospitals.

Now Ram Tumuluri, the face of VGH, has claimed in the United States Congress that Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre and other Steward executives illegally conspired with foreign officials to secure the hospital contract.

In Boston, Steward CEO refusing to answer to U.S. senators on bankruptcy

“In touting Steward’s supposed competitive advantage in Malta… de la Torre boasted that he could issue ‘brown bags’ to government officials if necessary to close transactions,” Tumuluri wrote in a complaint to Congress, shared with CBS News. 

‘Lawful whistleblower’ Ram Tumuluri denies giving money to Joseph Muscat

In the submission to the US Senate committee investigating Steward’s collapse in the U.S., Tumuluri describes a 2017 meeting involving the Steward CEO and alleges de la Torre was “insinuating he would bribe officials of the Government of Malta.”

A spokesperson for de la Torre called Tumuluri’s allegations “preposterous” and said Steward’s international arm acted “in a lawful and transparent manner throughout the period in which the company was operating Malta.”

Tumuluri’s company won the controversial contract to run three of Malta’s public hospitals in 2015.

In his complaint to Congress, Tumuluri alleges de la Torre and other executives “conspired with” Maltese officials on a “campaign of unlawful coercion” to gain control of the contract Tumuluri’s company had won in 2017.

The 500-page letter claims aconspiracy allegedly involved an effort to have Tumuluri arrested and even repeated death threats aimed at him. 

De la Torre’s spokesperson said Steward took over the Maltese hospital contract only after Tumuluri’s company “failed to deliver on its promises” and government officials were looking to replace it.

VGH concession

By 2017, the VGH concession was paid €75 million to run the three hospitals, incurring over €94 million in expenses, generating losses of some €18 million. But Steward Malta’s auditors later said that VGH was already in 2016 facing a “material weakness [that] may cast a significant doubt on [its] ability to continue as a going concern.”

The warning was made in the accounts for VGH for that year, when the concessionaire posted a net loss of €6 million, with total liabilities exceeding assets by €8.9 million.

Tumuluri markets himself as a freelance investor and business consultant, yet nowhere on his personal website does he make any mention of his Malta project.

VGH, a consortium of investors brought together by the Pakistani business consultant Shaukat Ali Chaudry and run by Tumuluri, incurred such high levels of debt that it was unable to acquire financing to keep the concern going.

Yet the two entrepreneurs in 2016 were using their tax-funded concession to pitch their business acumen in Norway, where they sought out €50 million in equity for a renewable energy project. The two men were looking to sell a 24% stake in a renewable energy project outside Malta, and claimed their Malta healthcare PPP was valued at €2.8 billion.

But in 2016, Steward Malta’s auditors said that VGH was already facing a “material weakness [that] may cast a significant doubt on [its] ability to continue as a going concern.” The warning was made in the accounts for VGH for that year, when the concessionaire posted a net loss of €6 million, with total liabilities exceeding assets by €8.9 million.