Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/587664
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2015 Opinion 20 @saviourbalzan pages of The Times right before Mintoff's appointment as judge: "If you want an indication as to why Mintoff's nomination was, and remains, unacceptable, take a look at the comments below the various stories reporting on it. The type of people who felt moved to spring to his defence seem to have been motivated by a number of variations on the same theme: he is Lejburist, the people who are opposing him are not, it is Lejber's turn, therefore the people opposing him should shut up and, anyway, look what they did in the past." The very fact that Borg Cardona – who looks like a character from Dad's Army – wrote Labourite as Lejburist, says it all. The truth is that when I look back I realise that I have made a few mistakes with my choice of friends, but with Wenzu Mintoff. Borg Cardona, for example, would surely say that his friendship with Lou Bondi was a phony one. I cannot say the same for my friendship with Wenzu Mintoff. Throughout our long friendship I have not been let down by his zero tolerance to corruption and double standards. And if apologists such as Borg Cardona had any doubts about Mintoff's integrity and credentials as an impartial judge then he should also have read through Mintoff's judgment on Bastjan Dalli, brother to John Dalli, the disgraced EU commissioner. It also continues to serve as an eye-opener to me about Dalli: a man I publicly defended. In another sentence, Mintoff upheld a request by Bank of Valletta to nullify the court auction for the sale of a batching plant previously owned by Bastjan Dalli's Mixer Limited, and order the repayment of €4.8 million in loans and interest. The court auction was originally held to have Dalli pay back a €2.2 million loan. The Bank contended that they had not received payment and asked the court to revive the original executive title granted to it in 2002, given that ten years had passed since that court order. Mintoff ruled that the court auction held in 2007 for the batching plant in the Ta' San Martin area of Zebbug was null, since the actual payment was never executed. He also ruled that BOV's executive title to have its loan repaid was still in force. When BOV won an original claim against Mixer, it obtained a court order to have the batching plant and the 23,500 square metres of land on which it was situated to be sold by court auction. It transpired that the auction was held in 2007, with the highest bidders being Neville Spiteri and John Dalli & Associates, the business firm owned by Bastjan's brother John Dalli. Another bidder was Joe Gaffarena, a previous owner of the batching plant. This was all news to me. The bank contended that the land at Ta' San Martin was worth Lm2.8 million (€6.5 million). John Dalli & Associates presented a Lm1.45 million (€3.37 million) bid, but did not deposit the full Lm1.45 million to the courts' director-general and instead presented a FIMBank bank guarantee. BOV opposed the guarantee, insisting that winning bids had to be accompanied by full payments. In 2011, a court of law ordered that John Dalli & Associates pay the €3.37 million within 15 days. In his decision, Judge Mintoff said that since John Dalli & Associates had not effected payment within 15 days of the 2011 order, the judicial sale was now null. Since the 2002 executive title granted to BOV had not yet been effected and ten years had passed since then, Mintoff ruled that BOV's demand to have the loan repaid was justified. Need I say more? It is a great pity that I was not aware of these facts when I stuck my neck out for John Dalli. Editorial policy in a caption Last Sunday, in The Malta Independent a caption in a story linked to the Michael Falzon (the former Nationalist minister) Swiss leaks investigation settled for an editorial disclaimer. It stated that the newspaper would publish the name of those who were politicians or facing criminal charges. The Independent was referring to the Swiss leaks list. Months ago, the same newspaper had announced that it would publish the name of a Maltese ambassador on the list. Great stuff. The only problem is that the name never appeared in Malta Independent. The reason, I believe, has less to do with Pierre Portelli's convoluted editorial policy, but more to do with someone higher up getting cold feet. Needless to say, we know who the Maltese businessmen on Swiss leaks are. Perhaps I could hint at them. But unlike the Independent, we do not have a hidden agenda to deviate attention from the fact that one of its leading columnists is facing very serious court proceedings on VAT and soon will be facing charges on tax-related issues. Perhaps people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The awakening Claudette Buttigieg called a press conference to lament about the shameful events at Addolorata Cemetery. Some five years ago I wrote a piece about the state of affairs at the cemetery. She was the communications coordinator to then health minister Joe Cassar and from what I can recall, her response to my article was something akin to a scene from The Walking Dead. Before 2013, Joe Cassar presided over a billboard campaign announcing that there would be more graves at Addolorata. I guess we were supposed to say "thank you". Whenever I visit the cemetery at Addolorata I am reminded of how the dead have no votes. When Claudette finds the energy to highlight a serious problem at Addolorata which she did nothing about when she was a senior official at the Ministry responsible for our graveyards, the only viable reaction I can think of is throwing up. Deborah writes in I refer to the article entitled 'Stay home please, Dr Gonzi. Stay home' published 12 October, 2015 on Malta Today. Saviour quoted me as saying, "I told Muscat that I would stand for election only if abortion and embryo freezing would not be introduced. He kept his word and I stood." My words were not exactly those. When asked why I took the stand against I said that I had always been against it, so much so that I had told Dr Muscat from the start, even before I became a candidate, that I was against abortion, embryo freezing and surrogate motherhood and that if standing for election meant having to vote in favour of any of them then I would not stand at all. The nuances of what I said and what I was reported of having said are not the same. >> The Jeremy Boissevain Memorial Talk The Jeremy Boissevain Memorial Talk will be held on 4 November, 2015 in the evening. Attendance is by invitation only. Ms Inga Boissevain will also be attending and will be launching her novel. Those interested in attending are asked to send in their details on info@mediatoday.com.mt or phone 21382741 ext 153 and ask for Bianca Clarke Freddi.