Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/490723
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 APRIL 2015 News 7 MATTHEW VELLA A €363 million claim brought against Bank of Valletta in an Italian court, is just the tip of the iceberg of the story of the massive fraud that has taken place in southern Italy, where over 13,000 bondholders have had their savings wiped out. Investors took to the streets as re- cently as 31 March in the Neapolitan province of Torre del Greco, to pro- test at the loss of their investments following the €800 million fraudu- lent bankruptcy of shipping giant Deiulemar. In July 2014, seven members of the three founding families of ship-own- er Deiulemar (pictured) were jailed for up to 17 years for illegal financial transactions as the company col- lapsed. It was declared bankrupt in 2012 owing more than €800 million. They were found guilty of fraudu- lent bankruptcy, having transferred their assets to Maltese, Swiss, and British Virgin Islands trusts to avoid their exposure to creditors and the 13,000 retail investors from Torre del Greco who subscribed to their bonds. The bankruptcy precipitated a human tragedy upon the Torre del Greco community, which has now filed a civil claim to recoup their in- vestments. A Rome court sentenced brothers Angelo and Pasquale della Gatta to 17 years in jail, while their sister Mi- caela got nine years and 10 months. Their mother Lucia Boccia received an eight-year term. Giuseppe Lembo, the only surviv- ing member of the founding trio, received a sentence of 15 years and eight months. Another founder, Michele Iuliano, died of a heart at- tack during a police raid on his home at the height of the scandal in May 2012. His daughter, Giovanna Iuliano, got 10 years and two months and his widow, Maria Luigia Lembo, was jailed for nine years and two months. Civil claims The liquidators of the Deiulemar seven and representatives of the 13,000 bondholders, have filed a civil claim against – among several others – Bank of Valletta and an- other company registered at BOV's Valletta address on Zachary Street, Banco Svizzero d'Italia Trust Corpo- ration Limited Malta, whose parent company is the Swiss bank BSI, of Lugano. MaltaToday understands that Bank of Valletta was already notified that it was being called to answer to the €363 million claim as early as 6 Janu- ary, 2014, court documents obtained from the Torre Annunziata tribunal show. The plaintiffs want to convince the Italian courts that the necessary due diligence on the Deiulemar bonds was not carried out by trustees like BOV, BSI, Private Trustees SA, Fidu- cia Trustees, Azzurro e Azzurra SA, Esperia Trust, Tofev SA, Porthinny LDA, Lamain SA, Hamburg Interna- tional SA, and SBF SA. However, a company announce- ment from BOV was only issued on Maundy Thursday, on the eve of Good Friday when the Malta Stock Exchange is closed for the Easter holidays and newspapers are cus- tomarily not printed. The bank is being requested to pay the value of the shares held by the trusts Giano, Capital Trust, and Gilda, which it held as a trustee back in 2009. The bank said in its company state- ment that there was no basis at law for the claim being made before an Italian court and that the bank will be rejecting the claim as complete- ly unfounded. The parliamentary secretary for competitiveness, José Herrera also weighed in, saying that investors had no cause for alarm. "The bank has engaged top lawyers in Malta and Italy… the case is a long shot and the odds are very much in favour of BOV," he said. The government owns close to 25% of BOV, and also appoints its chair- man. The bank said it would not make any provision for any eventual loss. PN government. Following Labour's electoral victory, Far- rugia was appointed chief executive of- ficer of the Malta Freeport Corpo- ration, with a sal- ary of €50,723. Farrugia also serves as a poli- cy advisor to the Maltese Delegation in the Committee of the Regions, the po- litical assembly that provides the regional and local levels with a voice in EU policy development and EU legislation. He is also a visiting lecturer in the Public Policy Department, Faculty of Economics, Management and Ac- counting at the Uni- versity of Malta, where he teaches politics and political campaigning. €800 million fraudulent bankruptcy is backdrop to BOV's Italian 'trouble' Projects Malta Limited, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Malta, hereby calls for the submission of proposals leading to the award by the Government of a services concession for the management and operation of healthcare and ancillary services from the sites at St. Luke's Hospital, Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital and Gozo General Hospital through the grant, for a specified term, of the right to exploit such services. Interested parties are invited to obtain a copy of the Request for Proposals (RFP) document either by collecting it from the offices of Projects Malta Limited at The Clock Tower, Level 1, Tign� Point, Sliema, Malta or by a request to Projects Malta Limited on admin.projectsmalta@gov.mt. The RFP document will be provided against the payment of a non-refundable fee of five thousand euro (€5,000). Sealed bids complete with all required documents are to be submitted up to noon (Central European Time) on Tuesday, 19 th May 2015. Submissions are to be delivered by hand to Projects Malta Limited on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m (Central European Time) at the address below: Projects Malta Ltd. The Clock Tower, Level 1, Tign� Point, Sliema, Malta Request for Proposals Services Concession for the redevelopment, maintenance, management, and operation of the sites at St. Luke's Hospital, Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital and Gozo General Hospital REF: PML /04/2015 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Projects Malta 20 x 3.pdf 1 Friday/March27/2015 9:5912AM PN government. Following Labour's electoral victory, Far- rugia was appointed chief executive of- Maltese Delegation in the Committee of the Regions, the po- Bank of Valletta was already notified that it was being called to answer to the €363 million claim as early as 6 January, 2014 Bondholders from Torre Greco take to the streets in protest at the loss of their investments