Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/366326
Newspaper post WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 20 AUGUST 2014 • ISSUE 378 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY 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. €0.90 FULL STORY ON PAGE 3 Enemalta to pay €200,000 to households in 12-hour blackout CONTINUES ON PAGE 2 An estimated €200,000 to be forked out with about 8,000 households eligible for compensation MIRIAM DALLI THE Cabinet has agreed to grant families who suffered a 12-hour power cut during last week's nationwide blackout an ex-gratia payment of €25. With an estimated 8,000 households believed to have endured between 12 and 18 hours with- out electricity, the government is set to fork out around €200,000 as "a good will gesture". According to Enemalta, €25 is equivalent to what an average family consumes in electricity in 10 days. Although the government is not bound by law to give compensation, energy minister Konrad Mizzi said such power cuts are unacceptable. "We wished to give this ex-gratia payment to apologise to the families. It is not acceptable that families go for so many hours without electricity, and we will do all that is possible to minimise the risks," Mizzi said. The power cut affected all Malta, which fell into darkness, but power was restored to most by late evening or early morning. PN calls for NAO inquiry on Café Premier THE Opposition has asked Au- ditor General Anthony C. Mif- sud to carry out an investigation into the €4.2 million paid out by the government to buy back a 65- year lease for the Café Premier in Valletta. In a letter signed by MPs Tonio Fenech, Claudio Grech, Kristy Debono, and Jason Azzopardi, the Nationalist Party said it wanted the Auditor General to investigate why €4.2 million was paid to Cities Entertainment for the government to acquire the lease. MaltaToday first revealed that the government had paid Cities Entertainment Ltd €4.2 million to buy back the 65-year lease for the Café Premier, when the com- pany was facing a court action to pay €200,000 in rental arrears to the Lands Department. "If the government wanted to genuinely acquire the premises, it could have easily asked the court for the rescission of the emphyteutical contract and al- low court procedures to carry on for the payment of the arrears. It would have saved €4.2 million," the Nationalist MPs said in their letter to the Auditor General. UNJONI EWROPEA MALTA PASSAPORT Citizenship scheme - PAGE 10 One of the cables which caused the blackout after the explosion at the distribution centre Gozo priest charged with sex abuse FULL STORY ON PAGE 3 PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD