Former Maltese officials to appear in court over hospital fraud scandal amid EU election preparations

In Malta, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and other top officials are going to court on Tuesday for a hospital corruption scandal. This scandal has caused a lot of trouble in the country as it gets ready for European Parliament elections. Back in 2015, a deal was made to let a private company manage three hospitals in Malta. Then, in 2018, the company in charge changed. In February 2023, a court canceled the deal because of fraud. This decision came after a case was brought by a former opposition leader. The Court of Appeal agreed with this decision in October, saying there was proof that the parties involved in the deal worked together unfairly. This ruling quickly made the Labour Party, which was in charge, lose a lot of support. Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Chris Fearne, who was the deputy prime minister, are among those facing criminal charges. Muscat led the country from 2013 to 2020. Fearne resigned as deputy prime minister when news of the charges came out. Both of them say they did nothing wrong. Prime Minister Robert Abela, who is also from the Labour Party, has questioned why the inquiry's results came out just as the European Parliament elections were starting. He also wondered if the accused people got a fair chance to talk to the investigators. Some people got upset by Abela's comments, saying he was attacking the legal system. The Labour Party has been winning elections in Malta by a lot since 2013. But things have been changing since last year. In the 2014 European Parliament election, the Labour Party got three seats even though they had fewer votes than the Nationalist Party. Recent data shows that only the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party will have representatives in the European Parliament. The surveys suggest that most voters will choose the Labour Party in the upcoming elections. Malta has been in the news for a corruption scandal involving the management of state hospitals. This scandal has led to charges against several officials, including former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and current Prime Minister Robert Abela. The scandal has caused a lot of controversy and affected the upcoming elections in Malta.