I will void entire VGH contract if alleged Pilatus Bank payments are verified - Simon Busuttil

PN Leader Simon Busuttil said he would void the entire Vitals Global Healthcare contract should investigations verify the allegations concerning a VGH consultant's payments within Pilatus Bank, at a press conference in Marsaxlokk.

Responding to a question from The Malta Independent, Dr Busuttil said "If the deal is tainted then the whole contract should be removed," Dr Busuttil

The Times of Malta have alleged that they have been provided with documents indicating that VGH consultant Asad Shukat Ali received tens of thousands of euros in payments in a Pilatus Bank account.

A  couple of weeks ago a damning report reached The Malta Independent from a source who worked closely with Pilatus Bank indicating that there was an FIAU investigation into Pilatus Bank on dubious accounts held for Politically Exposed Persons in Malta and Azerbaijan.

The source who backed up the claims with documents from the bank said that "In one particular bank account, the equivalent of approximately €1,000,000 was transferred into an account classified as high-risk from the bank account of a third party. No documentary evidence was recorded on file on the origin of the funds. Furthermore, this third party made a number of other significant deposits to different bank accounts pertaining to companies owned by the same UBOs (PEPs in a high risk jurisdiction) within a short period of time."

The documents also stated that the lack of transparency within the bank "clearly reveals that the bank is being exposed to very high risks of Money Laundering and Funding of Terrorism (ML/FT) without basic mitigating measures being applied."

Referencing the allegations into PM's chief of staff  Keith Schembri, Minister without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi, and  Nexia BT Owner Brian Tonna, Dr Busuttil said that "Pilatus Bank was the common denominator."

Barts Medical School

Dr Busuttil was asked to clarify how he intended to renationalise the Gozo General Hospital but keep Barts Medical School if both projects form part of the same VGH contract.

 The PN Leader maintained that the projects were separate from one another, and maintained that he was not against private investment, but was against the privatisation of the only public hospital in Gozo.

from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2rDu5f3
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