Malta police search house of former Prime Minister Muscat

FILE PHOTO: Outgoing Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat waves to supporters after his final speech at the party's Congress before the election of a new party leader at the Corradino Sports Pavilion in Paola, Malta January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

VALLETTA (Reuters) - Police searched the residence of former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Wednesday as part of a probe into alleged corruption in a deal struck by his government that handed management of three state hospitals to the little-known Vitals Global Healthcare group in 2016.

Muscat confirmed the police search in a Facebook post, saying officers had turned up to search his house at 7 a.m. and had also confiscated his mobile phone as well as those of his wife and teenage daughters.