Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/637230
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2016 26 Letters News • 5 February 2006 THE Attorney General's office is draft- ing amendments to the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance to allow magistrates more discretion on sentencing offend- ers to mandatory imprisonment accused of drug possession and trafficking when their actions denote they were actually "sharing" drugs with fellow users. Home Affairs and Justice Minister Tonio Borg told MaltaToday a report by the parliamentary social affairs com- mittee on amending the drug laws had vindicated his stand in favour of grant- ing more discretion to magistrates when dealing with offenders whose possession of drugs indicated they are for their per- sonal use. Currently anyone found guilty of drug trafficking, which also includes "shar- ing" drugs with other users, is subject to a mandatory six-month imprisonment at minimum. The parliamentary committee has tak- en on suggestions to allow magistrates the discretion to waive the mandatory prison sentence on cases of drug shar- ing. In November 2004, Magistrate Consue- lo Scerri Herrera called for amendments to the drug laws after expressing regret at being unable to place an offending mi- nor under probation, after the accused was found sharing drugs with friends. The parliamentary committee has ac- knowledged that the court was "bound to apply a sentence it was against, where it felt the mandatory prison sentence was more detrimental to the individual." Agencies fighting drug abuse claim the removal of incrimination for "sharing" increases the chances of survival for ac- cidental overdose victims, who are fre- quently dumped outside hospitals rather than taken directly into emergency by fellow users, for fear they will be impris- oned for having shared drugs with the victim. Although agencies fighting drug abuse have called for a legal distinction be- tween trafficking and sharing, there has been no agreement with the police force about what constitutes sharing. The po- lice have opposed the introduction of the term. A parliamentary committee led by Na- tionalist MP Clyde Puli has agreed that magistrates should have "limited dis- cretion" in waiving imprisonment for offenders found to have been "sharing" drugs with other users. Tonio Borg told MaltaToday he had always been in favour of granting more discretion "within certain parameters" to magistrates in dealing with drug cases. "As far back as 1999, this ministry had piloted a bill to eliminate mandatory imprisonment for possession of drugs commensurate with personal use… the relative amendment is being drafted by the Attorney General's office although it will be included in a comprehensive bill which will deal with several matters re- lated to criminal justice." Borg said he has promised to give a copy of the amendment to the Opposi- tion spokesperson before presenting it in Parliament. "I hope we shall have a fruitful debate and that the bill be passed as soon as possible. The committee is in agreement that sharing should not be punished in the same absolute way as trafficking and that discretion should be granted to the presiding magistrate in cases of 'sharing'." Clemency on 'sharing' in amendments to drug laws Strickland Foundation's abuse of our rights 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. I write regarding your article "Strickland heirs charge newspaper foundation with 'constant harassment'" (January 31, 2016) to correct some inaccuracies. I am not a "pretender" to my aunt Mabel Strickland's (pictured) inheritance but her sole heir whom she chose in 1975 when, in that early will, she left her entire estate to me, subject to the provision for part of her share- holding in Allied Newspapers Ltd to go into a trust, until I obtained Maltese nationality. The reason for this trust was to plan for the proposed Foreign Interference Act's provi- sions, later enacted and then repealed, when my spinster aunt tried to adopt me to help confirm my Maltese ancestry. In her 1975 will, she sought to protect her lifelong work by sheltering some of her shares in the event that she died before I obtained Maltese na- tionality. Mabel's 1976 letter to me, which you have quoted, confirmed her clear intentions. I am now a Maltese citizen. It was clearly not my aunt's wishes to leave control of her family company to two extraneous families. Her heir was not only a close family member (and her would-be adopted son) but a trusted person who shared her values. This letter states that she wanted me, alone, to continue on her family businesses where ironically she states that "the Executors would be the last people to interfere with you". Yet, the Executors and the Strickland Foun- dation have consistently blocked my appoint- ment to the foundation and the board of the newspaper group for 28 long years. During 1977 and 1978 I lived in Malta with my aunt at her villa. In 1978 political pres- sure was brought to bear on her and I was expelled from Malta. The following year, our newspaper offices were ransacked. From that time until 1987, when there was a change of government, I was not allowed to come to Malta. By the time I could return, my aunt was senile. During my absence, in 1979 my aunt was persuaded by her lawyer, Guido de Marco, to draft a new will (on his own admission), and change the trust into the Strickland Founda- tion, stating in its constitution that it was set up "for herself and her heirs in perpetuity". I knew nothing of this altered will until her secret will was opened after her death. Dr de Marco and Prof. Joseph Ganado were named by Mabel as executors whilst also foundation trustees. Mabel's legal files concerning the altered will and the setting up of the foundation have been withheld from me for 28 years. Without them, there can be no equality of arms in our court case. The final will is confused, with only a handful of personal letters to give insights to her real wishes, as opposed to the executor's interpre- tation of her will. Your article refers to a legacy of the villa to the foundation, with her heir having the right to live there. It is unlikely that my aunt understood the "use and habitation" right was merely for life, since no mention was made of this restriction in her will or discussed with me. I alone have the right to live at the villa, yet the foundation has assumed that its rights prevail over my right to live privately in a home where only I should have the front door key. Their frequent uninvited incursions into our home, abuse our human rights. There is no suggestion, anywhere in the will, of any co-existence with the foundation, especially when Mabel made specific provision in her rules that whilst, nominally, the seat of the foundation was the Villa, she stated emphati- cally that it "could transfer the seat to any other place in Malta". The foundation fails to make this publicly known. Regarding the controlling 78% sharehold- ing in the newspaper group, Mabel's legacy to the foundation is contradictory as to the size of the legacy and also how such shares could be transferred to the foundation, as they are barred by law and by the articles of Allied from being a shareholder. Hence, my request to return these shares, wrongfully transferred, in 2010, without my permission, to the estate of my aunt until such time as the courts consider to whom they rightfully belong. Your article was incorrect regarding the family's living arrangements at the villa. My aunt's manuscript will states "the guests rooms, bathrooms and study" (note the plu- rals). Mabel wanted me to live in her home, meaning the whole villa except the office, where she had sought, and got, my permission to allow the then trust to use for six meetings annually. The executors have been trying to limit the family's use to a single bedroom and bathroom, which is risible. The execu- tors base their interpretation on a missing "s" in the notarial transcript of Mabel's original handwritten will. It is fatuous and insulting to suggest that Mabel seriously thought her heir, family and their guests only use one bedroom and one bathroom. The executors have a fiduciary duty under Maltese law, to act on behalf of the heir as a bonus pater familias, but because of their manifest conflicts of interest, they appear to have competed with me for the bulk of the estate. Nowhere was this clearer than when they saw their own two sons appointed to the Strickland Foundation in 2009, in preference to Mabel's chosen heir. I have a legitimate expectation to be involved in my family's business as heir; any Maltese family will understand this. Although Dr Max Ganado recently resigned from the foundation and Prof. Ganado resigned as an executor, between them they are still refusing to pass over all the executors' files to the heir. Dr Guido de Marco died in 2010 but Dr Mario de Marco continues to sit on the foundation. The foundation does not publish its accounts. The newspaper group that this foundation now questionably controls, has even printed an article containing false statements about our legal case. With this misleading informa- tion, the editor then refused to allow me the right to reply, on the basis that the matter is before the courts, when, curiously their own inaccurate article was allowed to be pub- lished. Robert Hornyold Strickland Lija De Giorgio On February 5th, at Capua Hospital Sliema, Roger aged 93, passed away peacefully comforted by the rites of Holy Church. He leaves to mourn his loss his beloved wife Marica, his children Nick and Tita, Pat and Michel Sanchez, Roger and Jo- sianne, Michael and Marianne, John and Monique, Mary the widow of his brother Maurice, his grand children, Jordan and Sandro Kitcher, Manuela, Al- exandra and Roman Bertrand, Matthias, Matthew, Kristina, Alexander, Stephanie, James, Yasmin and Amber his great grand children Tom, Lola, Max and Ruby, his sisters in law Car- men Cassar Olivier, Rosalie and Marie Mifsud, nephews, nieces relatives and friends. The funeral cortege leaves Capua Hospital Sliema for Tal– Ibrag parish church where mass presente cadavere will be said on Monday 8th February at 1:30pm followed by interment at Santa Maria Addolorata cemetery. No flowers by request but do- nations to DSH Nuzzo Institute, Hamrun will be greatly appreci- ated. A special thanks and apprecia- tion towards Ramon and Mari- ane for their dedicated care. Obituary The late Mabel Strickland