Two prominent figures in Malta’s legal community – Mamo TCV Advocates and lawyer Tonio Fenech – feature among those engaged by Steward Healthcare in its international arbitration battle against the Maltese state, during which the US-based operator spent a total of €7.3 million.
Mamo TCV Advocates was one of three firms retained to represent Steward, receiving €142,466 in fees. Partner Joseph Camilleri acted as the company’s external counsel throughout the proceedings.
Tonio Fenech (pictured), meanwhile, was enlisted as one of four expert witnesses, with Steward paying €269,660 for his testimony. The list of expenses does not reference Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal (the firm he co-founded), indicating that Fenech appeared in a personal capacity.
In all, Steward spent €4.8 million on its legal team. The lion’s share went to Freshfields, the international law firm, which earned €4.2 million. Another global practice, Latham & Watkins, was paid €447,934.
A further €1.7 million was allocated to expert consultants. Besides Fenech, Steward paid Accuracy €840,505, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton €391,601, and Oxera Consulting €200,000.
Fenech, an experienced lawyer with extensive corporate interests, holds several directorships and serves as Lebanon’s Honorary Consul in Malta.
Among his former board roles was a long-standing directorship at Papaya, from the company’s inception until early 2023. Papaya was later linked to a multi-million-euro money-laundering investigation involving a transnational criminal network, according to a report by The Times of Malta last year.
Despite Steward’s €7.3 million outlay, the Maltese government ultimately spent even more on the protracted dispute – €11 million in total.
The arbitration, which dragged on for two and a half years, yielded little tangible progress toward recovering public funds earmarked for urgently needed upgrades at three state hospitals.
The complex arbitration dispute, which took two and a half years to hash out and led to no significant progress in actually recouping any money for the urgent refurbishment of three public hospitals, was also marked by bitter, uncooperative behaviour from both parties.