Aqra bil-Malti.

Three individuals were identified as Freemasons and members of one of the main masonic lodges in Malta in the hospitals’ magisterial inquiry investigating the theft of millions of public funds.

The inquiry notes that the former Times of Malta managing director Adrian Hillman, his business partner, contractor Pierre Sladden, and Technoline owner Ivan Vassallo were all ‘brothers’ in a secret masonic lodge.

The inquiry also identified lawyer Larry Formosa of Gozitan Cosrya Legal as another Freemason. Formosa assisted Technoline’s Ivan Vassallo in transferring his company’s shares onto Hillman and Sladden, nominees for Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, the inquiry found.

According to the inquiry, Vassallo occupied a prominent role in the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Malta and acted as its Secretary General.

Research by The Shift confirmed the trio’s membership in Malta’s oldest Freemasons society, based in Valletta’s Marsamxett. It is unclear whether Hillman, Sladden, or Vassallo are still members.

When The Shift contacted Simon Cusens, the Grand Master of the masonic lodge, he could not confirm whether Hillman, Sladden, and Vassallo had been expelled.

“As you know, one of our main principles is secrecy, and we cannot share this information with non-members,” he told The Shift.

“What I can tell you is that when I took over as Grand Master in 2019, something which I take very seriously, Ivan Vassallo did not occupy any senior role in our masonic lodge,” Cusens insisted.

Freemasons ‘appalled’ at inquiry conclusions

At the same time, Cusens, whose family was the original owner of Technoline before it was sold to Vassallo and his hidden partners for €5 million, made it clear that he was appalled at what he read in the inquiry and what has been revealed so far.

“As a society, we had nothing to do with what has happened. It’s disgusting,” he told The Shift. Cusens also referred to his name mentioned in the inquiry as the original owner of Technoline.

“Ivan Vassallo was my employee at the time of the sale, and I knew he did not have the means to buy Technoline. However, during negotiations, he never let slip who his real financiers were,” Cusens insisted.

“What I can say is that my family business’s sale to Gateway Ltd was concluded after due diligence, and at that time, nothing of what we now know had emerged,” he said.

“I had also consulted a serious lawyer to make sure that all was above board, and I have all documents to prove this,” Cusens added.

Technoline was bought by Vassallo’s Gateway in 2017 and passed onto Vitals Global Healthcare through a series of companies used as fronts for money laundering.

While on paper, Ivan Vassallo appeared as the owner of Technoline, Sladden and Hillman were inserted as shareholders in other companies, including Gateway Solutions, to be able to buy Technoline.

The money – €5 million to buy the medical supplies company – came directly from the hospitals’ concession, as Vitals Global Healthcare had no funds until it started receiving millions from the government. The Shift revealed this in January 2019.

Just after Technoline’s takeover was finalised, Vitals Global Healthcare issued an exclusive contract for the procurement of medical equipment for the hospitals’ concession, thus guaranteeing millions would be funnelled through this arrangement.

Hillman and Sladden were the secret business partners of Keith Schembri, heavily involved in the hospitals’ heist.