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7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 NOVEMBER 2025 NEWS Driver found guilty of hit-and-run in Regional Road collision fined €1,200 SALVINO Azzopardi, 63, from Żabbar was on Tuesday found guilty of hit-and-run in a Regional Road traffic accident. The accused was charged with careless driving after he crashed into another vehicle, caused dam- age to it, and then failed to stop at the scene, provide his details or report the accident to the author- ities. The incident occurred on Re- gional Road, just before the turnoff leading to the Birkirkara bypass. The victim testified that he had been driving in his own lane when Azzopardi suddenly changed lanes from the outer side and struck his van. The victim sound- ed his horn, but Azzopardi con- tinued driving, prompting the victim to follow him until both vehicles stopped near the round- about leading up to Mater Dei Hospital. There, Azzopardi denied having caused any collision, but the vic- tim pointed out the damage on both vehicles, with the victim's van having suffered damage to the front bumper. The police were eventually called to the scene and the accident was qualified as a hit and run. The victim's partner, who was also in the vehicle at the time, confirmed the events. She stated that Azzopardi had been driving too fast, had entered their lane and struck the van. She added that Azzopardi only be- came aware of the situation when confronted, claiming he had de- nied hitting her partner's van. The court held that Azzopar- di failed to observe proper lane discipline and that his careless manoeuvre directly caused the collision. It also found that he breached his legal duty to stop and give his details after the acci- dent. Azzopardi was thus fined €1,200. In addition, four penalty points were deducted from his driving licence and he was banned from driving for eight days. ĦALEY XUEREB hxuereb@mediatoday.com.mt Court awards around €72 million in compensation over 1973 National Bank of Malta takeover THE Constitutional Court has brought to a close more than three decades of litigation over the government's 1973 takeover of the National Bank of Malta, ruling that shareholders were subjected to a disproportionate burden when they were forced to relinquish their shares with- out compensation. The Constitutional Court has awarded approximately €71.8 million in compensation to former shareholders of the Na- tional Bank of Malta (NBM), bringing to an end one of the country's longest-running and most contested financial dis- putes. The judgment, delivered on Monday in two linked constitu- tional cases filed in 1992, con- cludes that the government's 1973 intervention imposed an excessive and disproportionate burden on the shareholders, in breach of their constitutional property rights. The case concerned the events of December 1973, when the National Bank of Malta expe- rienced a severe liquidity crisis as withdrawal demands out- paced available funds. The government withdrew the bank's licence and required the transfer of its shares, with- out compensation, to facilitate the creation of the Bank of Val- letta The Constitutional Court found that while the econom- ic circumstances of the time justified urgent intervention to protect depositors and the financial system, the complete absence of compensation to the shareholders amounted to a violation of their constitu- tional rights. The litigation was brought by two distinct groups of former shareholders. The first group, consisting of 49 original applicants, had signed the transfer deeds un- der what they claimed was pressure from the authorities. The second group, consisting of 33 original applicants, had refused to sign, but their shares were later rendered worthless through subsequent legislation. The court ruled that both groups suffered the same con- stitutional breach. The compensation award was calculated using a mod- el previously endorsed by the European Court of Human Rights in Cauchi v Malta. The starting point was the govern- ment's current 25% holding in the Bank of Valletta, valued at €198.5 million based on 2024 market figures. Two reductions were then applied: a 30% deduction to reflect the legitimate public interest in safeguarding the fi- nancial system at the time, and a further 20% deduction to ac- count for uncertainty as to how the bank would have fared had it continued to operate inde- pendently. The remaining sum was then reduced to reflect that the ap- plicants represented around 70% of the former shareholder base. The final pecuniary award is therefore €77,815,430, to be distributed proportionally according to each applicant's original shareholding. Approximately €50.7 million is allocated to the larger share- holder group, and €21 million to the second group. An addi- tional €30,000 in non-pecu- niary damages is to be shared among the surviving original applicants and eligible heirs. The court declined to grant the shareholders' principal demand for restitutio in inte- grum or compensation equiv- alent to the present-day value of the Bank of Valletta, a fig- ure exceeding €1.4 billion. It described the claim as not fea- sible and noted that it would have significant repercussions for Malta's financial sector and third-party shareholders who were not involved in the orig- inal dispute. Many original claimants died during the more than thirty years of proceedings, requiring the substitution of heirs. The court noted the dis- tress caused by the protract- ed process but reiterated that non-pecuniary damages of that nature are generally not inher- ited unless the original claim- ant died after the proceedings had begun.