Tumuluri tells U.S. Congress that Steward CEO insinuated he could bribe Malta officials
Former Vitals Director Ram Tumuluri has gone to the United States Congress with claims of corruption involving Maltese government officials and Steward Health Care, USA's CBS News reports.Steward Health Care and Vitals Global Healthcare are
Former Vitals Director Ram Tumuluri has gone to the United States Congress with claims of corruption involving Maltese government officials and Steward Health Care, USA's CBS News reports.
Steward Health Care and Vitals Global Healthcare are both companies that at different points were concessionaires in a contract to run three of Malta's hospitals. Steward took over the contract from Vitals in 2018, with Vitals having initially taken on the contract to operate three of the country's hospitals in 2015. The contract was annulled by the courts in a decree that mentioned fraud, and the Court of appeal confirmed the decision, mentioning collusion.
CBS News reported that Tumuluri's accusations include that Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre and other Steward executives allegedly illegally conspired with government officials to secure the hospitals contract. In his complaint to the U.S. Congress, CBS News reported that Tumulri wrote about how de la Torre would boast that he could issue 'brown bags' to government officials to close transactions.
Tumuluri is reported to have described a 2017 meeting which involved the Steward CEO, in which Tumuluri alleges that de la Torre was "insinuating that he would bribe Maltese government officials."
A spokesperson for de la Torre issued a statement in which he called Tumuluri's allegations "preposterous" and said that Steward's international arm acted lawfully and transparently throughout the time that the company operated in Malta, CBS News reported. The Steward CEO's spokesperson added that there is no basis for the accusations against de la Torre, adding that there is no evidence that anyone at Steward International had engaged in wrongdoing.
Tumuluri's allegations include that de la Torre and other executives had conspired with Maltese officials in order to gain control of the contract from Vitals. CBS News added that the complaint filed by Tumuluri to U.S. authorities, which spans over 500 pages, includes allegations of an effort to have Tumuluri arrested, and that it also included death threats against him.
CBS News reported that Tumuluri's attorney Andrew Bakaj said that a magisterial inquiry carried out in Malta which recommended charges against Tumuluri was not an independent inquiry and had been initiated by political actors.
The attorney concluded that Tumuluri has offered his assistance and testimony to Maltese authorities on several occasions, but that such offers have been ignored by Maltese authorities which is what prompted him to approach the U.S. authorities, CBS reports.
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