Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/598356
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2015 26 Malta is the only country in the European Union, and possibly in the world, where consumers have no idea what brand and grade of petrol or diesel they are purchas- ing! Is this acceptable to the Euro- pean Commission? Are Maltese citizens second-class EU citizens? In such circumstances how can the minister for energy claim that the local petroleum market is liberalised? A call for tenders for the pro- curement of unleaded petrol for the period January to June 2016 closed on 23 October. This call for tenders was issued by Enemed Company Limited – the state- owned company – on 9 October, 2015. How was it possible for the finance minister to declare in the Budget speech on 12 October, that the prices of fuel were to be reduced as from the coming January because Enemed had concluded an agreement through which the price of petrol would be reduced by 3 cents while the price of diesel would be reduced by 4 cents – inclusive of an in- crease of 3 cents in excise duties? With whom had Enemed reached an agreement for petrol by 12 October, when the closing date for tenders was 23 October? Can the energy minister let us know with whom this agreement was reached? In the call for tenders, Enemed asked for offers for the supply of four parcels of 6,900 metric tonnes each and two parcels of 5,600 metric tonnes each of RON95 unleaded petrol, and two parcels of 1,300 metric tonnes each of RON98 unleaded petrol. From which filling stations is the RON98 unleaded petrol going to be available? At what price is such petrol going to be sold? Enemed has also issued a call for tenders for the procurement of 2,300 cubic metres of Hydrot- reated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to be blended with EN590 diesel. This tender, which was issued by Enemed on 7 October, closed on 21 October, and the delivery of this HVO is scheduled to be made between the second and third week of this month. Does this mean that the diesel purchased later this month is going to be blended with HVO? At which filling stations is the diesel blended with HVO going to be available? Is this going to be at the same price as the other diesel? What information is Enemed providing to consumers about such petrol and diesel? Do not consumers have a right to know what they are purchasing? The Malta Automobile Club, like the former consultant of the government, Michael Falzon, maintains that the importation, storage and sale of petrol and diesel should not be government business. The importation, storage and sale of petrol and diesel should be left in the hands of the local representatives of the foreign oil companies, who should be allowed to compete among themselves to provide petrol and diesel at the lowest prices pos- sible, reflecting the international fuel prices. Alfred A. Farrugia Attard Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. News • 9 November 2005 National Bank ready to push up the stakes SHAREHOLDERS of the former National Bank of Malta will meet in December to de- cide whether to accept an Lm8 million set- tlement from government, or push further for higher reparations. Some 300 shareholders can be expected to vote on whether to demand as much as Lm18 million from government, 31 years since their bank was forcefully nationalised when shareholders signed off their shares under duress to Dom Mintoff's Labour gov- ernment. The bank was later nationalised into the Bank of Valletta, today worth in excess of Lm300 million. Pushing for a final privatisation sweep of the bank, government is attempting to rid it of its most notorious skeleton in the closet. Austin Gatt's ministry is piloting the settle- ment, with lawyer Max Ganado mediating for the shareholders. With court cases ongoing for the last three decades, the out-of-court settlement is as yet the most concrete act of recognition from the government that National Bank of Malta shareholders are entitled to compen- sation. But with a market value of Lm100 per share at the time of the 1974 take-over, gov- ernment's Lm8 million is a pittance to those claiming the shareholders are entitled to a heftier redress. Major shareholders and heirs of the bank's founders are expected to put their weight behind a higher settlement. Together, fami- lies of the noble Sciclunas and Sant Fourni- ers, as well as the Cassar Torregianis and Gollchers, comprise over 50 per cent of the shareholders. Admittance to the meeting will only be granted to shareholders who present certi- fied copies of their shares or in the case of successors, a notarial declaration stating the root of title as well as certified copies of their shares. They will vote on their plan of action at Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar, the stately home built by Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena, later purchased by Marquis Giuseppe Sci- cluna in 1898. His uncle Emanuele founded the Sciclunas Bank in 1830, later incorporated into the National Bank of Malta in 1948. In 1969, the National Bank acquired Tagliaferro Bank. At the apex of its profitability in Decem- ber 1973, millions were withdrawn from the National Bank in a run on its cash deposits. Within a week, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff demanded that shareholders sign off their shares to the government, re- fusing to allow the Central Bank to prop up the National Bank with bridging finance. Shareholders have claimed in court that Mintoff wanted the share transfer to occur "naturally without compensation", threat- ening to remove shareholders' limited li- ability by extending it to their personal assets, and to withdraw Lm4 million in government deposits from the bank. In court, the bank's directors have claimed Mintoff was categorical about his actions when he met them at Castille in December 1973, alleged to have said: "I know this is against the Constitution, I don't give a damn about the Constitu- tion… I didn't write it… I don't give a damn about the judges or anybody." (Naf li din hija kontra l-Kostituzzjoni, jiena nitnejjek mill-Kostituzzjoni, mhux jien ghamiltha, nitnejjek mill-Imhallfin u minn kullhadd.") Fearing the government would seize their personal possession, shareholders signed off their shares without as much of a whimper from the Nationalist opposition of the day. The National Bank was the island's main lender to the construction and tourism in- dustry. Its demise benefited industry mag- nates whose outstanding loans were practi- cally devalued by government, writing off some Lm6 million in loans as "bad debts". The accounting exercise turned the prof- itable bank into an overnight bankrupt in- stitution, Lm253,000 in the red. Within a year however, the nationalised Bank of Valletta generated a turnaround with Lm1 million in profits from what had been declared a "bankrupt" bank – in just three years, BOV also managed to recover the "bad debts". What brands and grades of petrol and diesel are available in Malta? Political humour SOMEHOW, I relish the unin- tended humour in statements made by some politicians much more than their intended sub- stance, often encountered in matters touching on economic performance. I expected Miriam Dalli (Mal- taToday, Sunday 1 November, page 4) to have asked the Op- position Leader to identify one example or two of what he de- scribed as "economic niches" and which the "government failed to create", presuming that he would have done it himself if in government. Karm Farrugia Madliena