Prime Minister’s chief of staff avoided Maltese surgeons/hospitals to have treatment in Rome clinic last year

The information reported here comes from documents supplied by Keith Schembri himself to Mossack Fonseca and contained in the Panama Papers. It is available to The Malta Independent and the Times of Malta, partners in Malta of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. No leaks from HSBC Bank or anybody working there were involved.

The Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, stayed for two days in the Casa di Cura Mater Dei, a private hospital in Rome’s elite Parioli neighbourhood, from 22 to 24 April last year, paying a total of €16,358 in fees.

The Casa di Cura Mater Dei does not offer any services, facilities or medical treatment which are not surpassed in Malta’s public and private hospitals – which means that he did not seek treatment there because it is better, but because he did not want to be noted by staff and patients in Maltese hospitals, and was prepared to pay handsomely to keep the matter secret.

His costs also included €141 for dinner at Rossini restaurant in Parioli on the 24th before moving on to the Hilton Garden Inn, an airport hotel, for one night at €213, where he slept before catching the flight to Malta the following morning.

Keith Schembri is seen here with Konrad Mizzi