St Philip’s ‘binding’ deal is now ready to be signed

The owner of St Philip’s hospital said he has a “binding” agreement that is ready for signing, even though the Government insisted it was still negotiating. The former Nationalist Party MP and president Frank Portelli said the deal could have been signed on October 15, the day the matter was debated in Parliament “That same evening the negotiating teams of the two sides held a long and extensive meeting and reached an agreement on all the contractual clauses, and we were ready to sign the contract,” he said. He stressed repeatedly that the agreement reached that evening was “binding” even though it has not been signed. When asked to justify this statement, he said simply: “My version is correct.” On October 16, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told The Times the contract was being finalised by lawyers and would be signed “within days”. Nearly two months later, the ministry said the discussions on St Philip’s Hospital have not yet been concluded. The contentious agreement has yet to be presented for PAC scrutiny, although the Government has not excluded submitting it after it has been signed. The Government wants to lease the hospital for €850,000 a year to use as a rehabilitation...