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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 AUGUST 2025 Harrods, embezzlement and an inquiry Editorial FRANCINE Farrugia was a young upstart in the Nationalist Party, having been elected on the Siġġiewi local council and also contested the general election. Little did anyone suspect that over a two-year period, she was siphoning off double salaries for herself from her work- place—the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). The audacity of Farrugia's criminal behav- iour is as shocking as the crime itself. She was a senior manager in MCAST's salaries department and issued double salaries to herself. Over two years, Farrugia embezzled more than €2 million, the court heard police officers testify. She used the money to finance a lavish life- style, buying property, cars and on one oc- casion went on a €100,000 spending spree at Harrods in London. And she did all this while holding elected office in her hometown Siġġiewi and preaching against government corruption all along. It all sounds surreal and her words on corruption, so hollow. Farrugia did what was expected of her when she immediately resigned from the lo- cal council and all posts in the PN, the mo- ment she was arraigned. Anything less would have been an abomination. Understandably, Farrugia's alleged criminal exploits have caused shock within the rank and file of the PN. Apart from the few blind- ed supporters, who chose to look elsewhere in an attempt to shift focus, MP Darren Car- abott's comment on Facebook captured the widespread anger and disappointment. Carabott was right to publicly express in- dignation at Farrugia's behaviour—she un- dermined the PN's cause. We would have expected more PN MPs to do so without starting their statements with 'ifs' and 'buts'. We would have expected anti-corruption crusaders to come out with forceful state- ments condemning the wrongdoing. What Farrugia's arraignment shows is that corruption and wrongdoing are not the mo- nopoly of a single political party. Human frailty cuts across the political and social di- vide. And this is a lesson best learnt by all those who hold public office or are elected to represent voters at every level. Bad people will always exist. Good people, who are tempted into wrongdoing, will al- ways exist. It's what happens when these peo- ple are found out that defines how strong- willed we are as a country to fight corruption and condemn bad behaviour and wrongdo- ing, whoever the perpetrator may be. Farrugia now faces a criminal process, which we hope will not drag on for years. We will not hold our breath—there are several cases of alleged corruption, fraud and mon- ey laundering involving people who were part of the Labour government or gravitated around it and are still trudging on in court. As for the political parties, it would be good if they carried out a soul-searching exercise. The PN needs to get off its high horse and ensure that its message is clear and unequiv- ocal—wrongdoing by its own representatives will find no shelter in the party with no 'ifs' and 'buts'. The PL needs to remove the glee off its face—it is not exactly the paragon of upright behaviour. But there is also another dimension to the Farrugia story. Her case involved public funds—taxpayer money used to sustain an important educational institution. It is amazing how Farrugia's exploits con- tinued for two whole years and went unde- tected by the college. Any system that has inbuilt controls would have immediately flagged the payment of double salaries. But MCAST's system was broken. Indeed, it had already been flagged as broken in 2019 by the National Audit Office and yet nothing was done to fix it. What was until then a hypothesis, soon turned out to be reality when Farrugia alleg- edly exploited this weakness to enrich her- self. Had it not been for a police investigation that appears to have started after receiving a tip off, MCAST would not have noticed. The college has its own responsibilities to shoulder for allowing a broken system to re- main in place. But so does Education Minis- ter Clifton Grima have the responsibility to come clean on the situation. Grima did well on Saturday to appoint an inquiry independent from the college's ex- ternal audit, to establish the facts and identi- fy administrative shortcomings. More importantly, Grima must make sure that any recommendations and actions sug- gested by the inquiry are implemented with- out delay. Grima is a minister of state and it is his duty to every taxpayer that he ensures the institu- tions on his watch are using public funds in a diligent way. Quote of the Week "[He] was not aware that he could not be in public without clothes". The legal aid lawyer appearing in court for a tourist who was charged for driving a rental motorcycle naked in Pieta. The man pleaded guilty and was fined €1,200 and banned from driving in Malta for six months. MaltaToday 10 years ago National Bank share-holders claiming €325 million in compen-sation 9 August 2015 THE shareholders of the National Bank of Malta, precursor of the Bank of Valletta be- fore its forced nationalisation in 1973, have submitted a claim for €325 million in com- pensation for the shares taken away from them by the Mintoff-led government at the time. The financial appraisal, carried out by banker Anthony R. Curmi – formerly a chief executive of the Malta International Business Authority – has been met with a disparag- ing reception by the government, whose own financial consultants have told the Maltese courts that the NBOM shares had no value whatsoever when the NBOM was national- ised. It's a handsome claim that comes 42 years since the Labour government took control of the NBOM to create Bank of Valletta, in which it retains a 25% shareholding. In October 2014 a Constitutional Court confirmed a court decision that found that the shareholders' rights had been breached when they were forced to surrender their shares, overnight, without any compen- sation. It was a harrowing example of the late Dom Mintoff's uncompromising, and heavy-handed style of government. Another decision upheld by the Constitu- tional Court recognised that the sharehold- ers were entitled to compensation. Bank of Valletta has always denied claims by the shareholders, saying that in 1973 the NBOM was insolvent, which the Maltese government is now insisting upon. But the compensation claim will have even more serious implications if the 49 share- holders and their heirs take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, to force the government's hand in paying out com- pensation.