Maltese hospital mastermind - Arnold Cassola
Ram Tumuluri was just a Vitals figurehead. The real guy was Armin Ernst. They used Tumuluri as the front man to negotiate the Vitals deal so that Steward would not appear…
Armin Ernst was always lurking in the background.
Reality is that US companies are at risk of prosecution under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act if they pay commissions to foreign (in this case, Maltese) players. So, better not to appear in prima persona.
What we Maltese must ask now is how much money Vitals/Steward actually put into the hospital sites. The question we should ask is: has there been a substantial cash (not cosmetic) investment in technology and facilities to upgrade the three Maltese hospitals?
Having said this, I would be more inclined to think that if any dirty stuff had been going on in the original deal, this would have meant quiet understandings between Vitals and the politician crooks in the Maltese government.
In the US, at the moment, there is a major consolidation under way of backward and forward integration of the delivery of healthcare services.
In the past, the US had independent doctors. Some were grouped into small, local practices (multiple doctors sharing offices, nurses,...