Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/705249
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 JULY 2016 7 News IN THE MAT TER OF AVIVA ANNUIT Y UK LIMITED -and- IN THE MAT TER OF AVIVA LIFE & PENSIONS UK LIMITED -and- IN THE MATTER OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, on 7 July 2016, an application was presented to Her Majesty's High Court of Justice by Aviva Annuity UK Limited (formerly known as Norwich Union Annuity Limited) ("UKA") and Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited (formerly known as Norwich Union Life & Pensions Limited) ("UKLAP") for an order under Section 111 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 sanctioning a scheme (the "Scheme") for the transfer of the long term insurance business of UKA, including all of its policies, assets and liabilities, to UKLAP. Copies of the full Scheme document, the full report prepared in accordance with Section 109 of said Act on the terms of the Scheme by Mr Gordon Wood (an Independent Expert, whose appointment was approved by the Prudential Regulation Authority), letters sent to interested parties containing a summary of the Independent Expert's Report and a statement setting out the terms of the Scheme may be obtained, together with other relevant information, by any person free of charge by contacting UKA or UKLAP as set out below or by visiting www.aviva.co.uk/uka or MyAviva at www.aviva.co.uk/existing-customers, until the making of an order sanctioning the Scheme. The application is directed to be heard before a Judge of the Companies Court at the Rolls Building, 7 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL, on 6 December 2016. If approved, the transfer will become effective at 00.01a.m. (London time) on 1 January 2017. Any person, including an employee of UKA or UKLAP, who alleges that they may be adversely affected is requested to provide reasons why they consider they may be adversely affected and, if appropriate, notice of their intention to appear at the hearing, to the designated Aviva PO Box address below which has been created for the purpose of the Scheme, or by calling the telephone number below, not less than two working days before the hearing. Any person, who alleges that they may be adversely affected by the carrying out of the Scheme may appear at the hearing in person or by counsel or solicitor advocate. UKA/UKLAP contact details: Address: PO Box 3622, Norwich, NR7 7XU Telephone: UK: 08000 929 457 International: +44 (0) 1603 358 572 Website: www.aviva.co.uk/uka If you are a policyholder of AVIVA ANNUIT Y UK LIMITED or AVIVA LIFE & PENSIONS UK LIMITED (previously known as PROVIDENT MUTUAL, COMMERCIAL UNION, NORWICH UNION or GENERAL ACCIDENT) and have lost touch with us, for example through a change of address, please get in contact using the details above. Grech: 'New laws will improve public trust in the political class' CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 "As it stands, members of the judici- ary can only be punished by a slap on the wrist or impeach- ment," Bonnici said. "The great thing about this legal amend- ment is that it was proposed to us by the judiciary itself." Deputy prime minister Louis Grech toasted two Bills that will render Parliament finan- cially autonomous from the gov- ernment and that will set up a Commissioner for Standards in Public Life to investigate ethi- cal breaches by MPs, govern- ment consultants and persons of trust. "These laws are milestones and will help improve public trust in the political class," he said. In reaction, the Nationalist Party dismissed Muscat's press conference as " bluff " and ar- gued that he will go down in history as a prime minister who lowered political standards in Malta It said in a statement that the Public Standards Bill was origi- nally proposed by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil back in 2013 but shelved for the follow- ing three years. Similarly, it said that its judicial reform Bill was spurred by a similar private mo- tion's Bill proposed by the Op- position following the contro- versial magisterial nominations of Caroline Farrugia Frendo and Ingrid Zammit Young. Abela, Fenech Adami trade barbs over AFM promotion injustices HOME affairs minister Carmelo Abela and PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami clashed over AFM promotions that were dished out in administrations past and pre- sent. Fenech Adami warned that the government has demoralised the Malta Armed Forces by repeat- edly promoting people close to the Labour Party. "It is an undisputed fact that the current government has used the AFM to appease people close to the Labour Party. It systematically purged the AFM's high-ranking officials and many of their re- placements now take their orders directly from Castille. He was speaking in Parliament on Tuesday during a debate on a Bill that will allow former sol- diers who were injured in the line of duty to receive their disability pensions retroactively. However, discussion largely focused on in- justices within the AFM. "With its battle-cry that it wants to remedy injustices, the govern- ment ended up creating fresh injustices with other people," he warned. Similarly, he said that some sol- diers are demotivated at the fact that the "goalposts for promotion" were shifted in a new handbook that was recently handed out to AFM officials. "They had been working for a long time for those promotions according to the old param- eters, but the goalposts have now changed for them," he said. However, minister Car- melo Abela retorted that the handbook places greater em- phasis on the soldiers' skills, and lashed out at injustices that took place under previous Na- tionalist administrations. "I don't want to justify current wrongdoings by referring to pre- vious ones, but we must be fair with history, and Fenech Adami is trying to give the impression that everything was rosy within the AFM before 2013 and that no in- justices ever took place." He recounted how former Briga- dier Rupert Montanaro had fro- zen promotions for five years, after which promotions were handed out to people close to the Nationalist Party. "This led to in- stability within the armed forces, and in most cases such injustices were proven as so by a board set up by this government," he said. He added that former PN ad- ministrations had created unnec- essary posts of colonels and lieu- tenant colonels. "Between 2005 and 2013, 20 people were promoted to lieuten- ant colonels and seven who were promoted to colonels. Out of those seven, four had only recently been promoted to lieutenant colonel. "The PN hardly has a good track record when it comes to promotions within the armed forces, and if they think that AFM promotions in the last three years were handed out to people close to the Labour Party, then that's a sign that in- justice was done against them in the past." He added that people have com- plained to him that too many AFM promotions are handed out to people close to the PN. 'Anomaly in AFM pension system' – Fenech Adami Fenech Adami also called for a revision of the AFM pension system, warning that the cur- rent one is creating "anomalies" whereby people get higher pen- sions depending on the year in which they retire. "It is not fair that people who served for the same length of time in the force and reached the same rank are now receiv- ing different pensions simply because they retired in different years," he said. "The time has come to address this injustice." Abela was coy in his response, stating that he is open to a de- bate on a change in the pension system but suggesting that the government's immediate pen- sion priorities may lie elsewhere. "Last year, the government increased pensions for the first time in 25 years, and its inten- tion is to start off with those people at the very bottom. It's only natural that people care about their own personal in- terests, but this is a question of priorities."