Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/364850
maltatoday mbank.com 2132 2100 FIMBank is an international trade nance specialist with an established reputation as a dynamic and customer-driven provider of trade nance solutions. FIMBank is headquartered in Malta and benets from a growing network of international oces. documentary collections bonds and guarantees treasury management structured trade nance commodity trade nance letters of credit ship nance payments forfaiting factoring Trade Finance Solutions engineered for business success FIMBank p.l.c. is a licensed credit institution in Malta with company registration C17003, is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority and listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. Newspaper post EMBASSY CABLES PGS 15-17 Surprise visit to Msida home for the elderly leaves Caruana 'appalled' Irishman missing for two weeks JURGEN BALZAN POLICE are investigating the disap- pearance of a 45-year-old Irish national who was last seen in Xghajra on Sun- day, 3 August. Yesterday, police officially issued a missing notice for Robert Carrick, af- ter his brother Phil turned to MaltaTo- day for assistance. Carrick has been living in Malta for around 10 months and was last seen by his landlord and f latmate, Adrian Va- manu, on 3 August. Vamanu told MaltaToday that the Irishman "vanished" and that he had not heard of him in two weeks. "He disappeared, vanished and I have ab- solutely no idea of where he could have gone or what intentions he had," Va- manu, 33, said. Although the police have known of the man's disappearance for a week, the official statement was released yesterday at 8:10pm. Usually, the police issue a statement 48 hours after a report is filed. How- ever this could be explained by the delay in having a report filed by a fam- ily member. On Friday, Carrick's wife left a message on the Police's Facebook page in which she said "My husband living in Malta has disappeared for the last two weeks. Where can I report his absence? I live abroad. Please help!!!" In reply, the police informed Orsi Carrick: "You may wish to file a formal police report at your local police sta- tion please." Missing person's report issued only yesterday after family learnt of unexplained disappearance NEWLY declassified United States embassy cables, pub- lished on a National Archives database for state telegrams, has revealed the extent of Labour prime minister Dom Mintoff 's 'bluster and de- mand' tactics, when he broke off talks with Italy in 1977 and told his counterpart Giulio Andreotti (pictured, above) that he will turn to Libya for financial support. "You should consider our proposal withdrawn if we do not receive a favourable answer before the end of the month," Mintoff told Andre- otti in his letter - a replica of an earlier threat he made to Secretary of State Henry Kiss- inger back in 1976. The cables reveal how Min- toff agonised in his bid to convince Europe that keeping Malta's geo-strategic harbour clear of the two superpowers, was worth paying Malta mil- lions for. With 1979's 'day of destiny' closing in for Mintoff, who wanted British forces off Mal- tese soil, the socialist prime minister also faced rising unemployment figures with the run-down of the British services. In 1976 Mintoff secured quadripartite negotiations with Italy, France, Libya and Algeria, in an attempt at con- vincing them of the value – financial and political – of a neutral Malta. But Mintoff 's brusque nego- tiations exaspearted many an ambassador, not least Italy's Eric Da Rin, who had to suffer the contempt of Malta's fiery premier. YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT MINTOFF 1977 THE SUMMER OF DOM'S ULTIMATUMS Mintoff threat to Andreotti to turn over to Gaddafi 'The final message from Robin Williams's life is that even if someone is suffering, they can still make something out of it' Psychologist Malcolm Tortell 12-13 €1.20 INTERVIEW SUNDAY • 17 AUGUST 2014 • ISSUE 771 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY PAGE 10 HAVE CHEESECAKE? WILL TRAVEL! MIGRANTS KEEP MALTESE SNACK ALIVE PAGES 15-16-17 CONTINUES PAGE 3 UNANNOUNCED visits to homes for the elderly by the parliamentary secretary for the elderly, Justyne Caruana, has led to reprimands against several private institutions. Sources said that follow- ing her unannounced visits, Caruana made it known to her secretariat that she plans to stamp out slackness and apathy she witnessed in both government and privately- run homes for the elderly. Only last month the junior minister's visit to an elderly people's home in Msida led to the person responsible for the running of the home to be reprimanded for the poor state of the institution. The official later reported sick and was said to have not shown up for work. A ministerial source told MaltaToday that a replace- ment for the person would be found shortly. "The minister was shocked by what she saw – the hy- giene, the way the old people were being cared for and the quality of the food provided," MaltaToday was told. In her visit to Msida, Caru- ana entered the premises without advance notice and specifically looked out for reports on hygiene. An aide said that the minister was "appalled by what she saw". Caruana has since her ap- pointment chosen to follow up a plethora of complaints by the families of the elderly residents. They vary from physical abuse, theft of per- sonal items and poor food and hygiene. But many of these accusa- tions have still to be con- firmed, especially the ex- tent of neglect in particular homes. CONTINUES PAGE 5