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Newspaper post YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT €1.40 SAVIOUR BALZAN FORMER Nationalist Party secretary-gen- eral Joe Saliba purchased a block of apart- ments in the heart of Paceville together with entrepreneur Joe Gaffarena, four months af- ter relinquishing his power-wielding post in the PN in June 2008. The sale of four apartments in Ball Street, Paceville, which included a penthouse, four apartments and a basement with a bar was purchased at a bargain price of €232,936 on 6 October, 2008. It was resold exactly a year later, on 7 Oc- tober, 2009 for €256,000 to the company BM Holdings & Investments, a company which together with Gaffarena Holdings owns the firm JGMB Estates Limited (directors Joe Gaffarena and Manuel Bonnici). The purchase was exposed by a search of notarial deeds carried out by MaltaToday on various politically sensitive individuals. Saliba was often accused by the media of being too sympathetic to the demands of contractors and speculators, most espe- cially during the controversial extension of building zones in 2006. Yesterday Saliba was asked by MaltaToday whether he could confirm that he had commercial or business links with Gaffarena, and whether any dona- tions were given to the Nationalist party by Joe Gaffarena before 2008. Until going to print, none of the questions had been answered. In a comment to MaltaToday back in 2008, just days after the Paceville property deal – which the newspaper was then unaware of – Saliba had denied that he was working with anyone in particular after his departure from the PN. "I am not working with anybody. Ide- ally, I will work with anyone who asks for my services," Saliba said, quipping that he would even work for Malta- Today if asked to be a consultant. Purchase took place four months after Saliba left his post as PN secretary-general in 2008 PAGE 4 maltatoday FREE WITH MALTATODAY SUNDAY • 9 August 2015 • issue 822 • published every wednesdAy And sundAy Former PN secretary-general purchased Paceville block with Gaffarena in 2008 National Bank shareholders claiming €325 million in compensation MATTHEW VELLA THE shareholders of the National Bank of Malta, precursor of the Bank of Valletta before its forced nationalisation in 1973, have sub- mitted a claim for €325 million in compensa- tion 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 compensation. It was a harrowing example of the late Dom Mintoff 's uncompromising, and heavy-hand- ed style of government. Another decision upheld by the Constitu- tional Court recognised that the shareholders 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 gov- ernment is now insisting upon. But the compensation claim will have even more serious implications if the 49 sharehold- ers and their heirs take the matter to the Eu- ropean Court of Human Rights, to force the government's hand in paying out compensa- tion. PAGE 6 Joe Saliba PIPPO PSAILA How Malta's sporting mediocrity was exposed at the European Games in Baku PGS 22-23 Government tells court NBOM shares 'worth nothing' but shareholders will take case to European Court after winning constitutional case over forced 1973 nationalisation