A Pakistani national named Shaukat Ali is attempting to distance himself from his direct involvement in a massive corruption scandal in Malta, which benefited the US-based Steward Health Care. Ali claims that he and his son, Asad, were only paid standard consulting fees for their services. However, leaked documents revealed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) suggest otherwise, showing they were promised significantly more and played a key role in the deal.

OCCRP previously reported that Steward paid Ali and his son millions of euros in “consultancy fees” after they facilitated the Dallas-based company’s acquisition of a €2.1 billion contract to renovate and manage public hospitals in Malta.

Emails revealed that Shaukat and Asad Ali arranged meetings between Steward executives and senior Maltese officials. Top Steward staff considered the duo instrumental in securing business for the company in Malta.

In Shaukat Ali’s version of events, he and his son were paid appropriate fees for their work. However, documents obtained by OCCRP indicate they received far more than initially reported, including a significant stake in Steward Malta, the local subsidiary holding the hospital contract.

In 2023, Maltese authorities annulled Steward’s contract over fraud allegations. Ali and his son, along with over two dozen Maltese officials, including former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, have been charged with corruption related to the deal. All have pleaded not guilty.

Contracts and company emails obtained by OCCRP show that in April 2019, Steward signed an agreement granting the Alis a 30 percent silent interest in the company’s Malta subsidiary. This “participation rights” agreement entitled them to 30 percent of the dividends paid by Steward Malta to its shareholders. If the subsidiary were sold, the Alis would also receive 30 percent of the shareholders’ earnings. However, their income was contingent on Steward’s investment costs being repaid first.

While it is unclear how much the Alis received from this stake, a November 2022 email exchange reveals Shaukat Ali complained to Steward Malta CEO Armin Ernst that he had not received any payments. Ernst responded that no dividends were being distributed at the time due to Steward Malta’s significant debt.

By the time the participation rights were granted, tensions between Steward and the Maltese Ministry of Health had begun to rise. The ministry suspected that Steward was using funds for purposes unrelated to hospital operations. OCCRP has reported that Steward Malta funneled money to pay bonuses to the Alis and to hire corporate intelligence firms to spy on opponents, including Malta’s health minister.

In a series of emails from November 2022, as the company appeared at risk of losing the contract, Shaukat Ali suggested he would be open to a €100 million “exit clause” payment. Although he did not provide details, this likely referred to a deal — later struck down — under which Steward would receive a €100 million payout from the Maltese government if the contract was terminated.

In addition to their stake in Steward Malta, documents show there were plans in September 2018 to grant the Alis an additional 7 percent participation interest in Steward Health Care International LLC, Steward’s Texas-based international branch, which owned the Malta subsidiary via a branch in Spain. It remains unclear whether this deal was finalized.

Shaukat Ali declined to comment on the allegations, citing ongoing legal proceedings in Malta. Asad Ali’s lawyer also declined to comment. Neither Steward’s US nor international branches responded to OCCRP’s inquiries.

OCCRP has previously reported that the Alis were essential in helping Steward secure the Malta contract. In a 2017 email, Armin Ernst stated that Steward would “not even be close to having a shot at Malta” without the Alis’ assistance. In the following years, dozens of emails were exchanged between the Alis, Ernst, and Keith Schembri, then-chief of staff to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. All parties have since been indicted for their involvement in the hospital deal.

As early as October 2017, months before Steward took over the hospital concession from another company, Ernst indicated the Alis would need to be granted an interest in Steward Malta, suggesting between 25% and 30% of the company. The following month, Ernst informed Steward staff that compensation for the Alis would need to be arranged before Steward officially secured the concession. He proposed offering the Alis up to a 15% stake in the Spain-based subsidiary controlling Steward Malta. It remains unclear if this stake was ever assigned.

While the proposed interest in the Spain subsidiary never materialized, a year and a half later, the Alis were granted 30% participation rights in Steward Malta. A Maltese criminal inquiry into Steward’s conduct noted that Ernst appeared to be secretly preparing a participation rights contract for an undisclosed party, with instructions to delete related files immediately after printing.

The Alis’ earnings from these rights were funneled through Accutor Consulting AG, a Swiss company owned by a Pakistani lawyer, which Steward had previously used to make payments to them. Maltese authorities have also accused Steward of using Accutor to funnel bribes to Muscat, allegations both Steward and Muscat deny.

After Swiss bank UBS froze Accutor’s accounts during an investigation by the Maltese government, Steward began making payments to the Alis through another Swiss company, Canberra International GmbH, which was controlled by Asad Ali. According to a March 2021 document, Accutor and Canberra requested Steward reassign a €500,000 debt for consulting fees to Canberra. Payment records show that approximately €1 million was paid to Canberra through Spain’s Santander bank and Bank of America throughout 2021.

However, Canberra also came under scrutiny. In April 2021, Asad Ali requested Ernst transfer their Steward Malta participation rights, still held by Accutor, to a Delaware-based company, K4C LLC, citing difficulties with Accutor.

Meanwhile, the hospital contract was unraveling. In September 2021, Maltese authorities informed Steward that it was “in default regarding various obligations”. Two months later, in November, Shaukat Ali emailed Ernst, requesting payment from their 30 percent participation rights to ensure they “kept receiving funds” as others were getting paid.

Ali expressed frustration, stating that asking for payment had become an “embarrassing ongoing subject”. Ernst responded, explaining that Steward Malta was heavily in debt, and no dividends were being paid. Ali suggested an “exit clause” of €100 million, in line with what Maltese officials had allegedly promised Steward if the contract was canceled.

A leaked document obtained by OCCRP offers new insight into what Steward and its silent partners, the Alis, may have expected. The undated document, marked “Strictly Private and Confidential,” noted that if the Maltese government terminated the contract and was found at fault, Steward would receive “Lender’s Debt plus EUR 100M”.

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