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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2017 26 Letters Disbarred lawyer Patrick Spiteri, whose 15-month suspended sentence earned him a perpetual suspension from the bar, keeps himself busy today running the offices of Symphony Global Ltd, a London firm whose directors include Conservative MP Tony Baldry. Spiteri is the registered director- shareholder of Symphony Global and the director of Quartet Global, two business consultancy firms at Clutha House, the prestigious SW1 offices in the heart of Westminster. According to Tony Baldry MP's declaration of interests, Symphony Global "promotes business development between companies in the UK and busi- ness in Eastern Europe." Company documents list Spiteri's ad- dress in Farnham, Surrey. Still styling himself as Dr, the former Wardija lawyer has listed his occupation as that of consultant. Ajidraw Properties, a subsidiary of Spiteri's Foresight Holdings, is a share- holder company in Symphony Global. Another of Symphony Global's direc- tors is Malcolm Scott Hamilton, whose name was featured in one of the many court cases lodged against Spiteri. Spiteri had told a court that Hamilton was the chairman of Irish firm EPPA In- vestments. Spiteri was ordered last year to pay Lm18,000 in fees to Grant Thorn- ton for their services on due diligence carried out on three companies. Spiteri claimed the companies were about to be acquired by EPPA, a subsidiary of his other company Foresight Holdings. He also said he had written to EPPA chair- man Malcolm Scott Hamilton that he had inherited properties in Italy from his grandfather, which he would use to settle debts with EPPA. The EPPA connection While Hamilton has been mentioned as a chairman of the Irish firm EPPA investments, the same acronym belongs to the Elizabeth Pierre Pierre Albert (EPPA) consultancy firm in Brussels, whom Spiteri had managed to convince to transfer 25 per cent of its sharehold- ing to him back in 1999. Accompanied by former National- ist MP Noel Buttigieg Scicluna, Spiteri had told EPPA board members he was a major Maltese investor with links with Price Waterhouse and Rothschild Bank, Geneva. The firm accepted his creden- tials without question and transferred 25 per cent of shares to him – but payment for EUR3 million for the shares never materialised. Top EPPA executives had said they had been foolish to trust Spiteri, after their relationship was dissolved when Spiteri agreed to return his unpaid 25 per cent shareholding. Patrick Spiteri was suspended per- petually from the bar on the recom- mendation of the Commission for the Administration of Justice. The decision over Spiteri was taken on the basis of a sentence which had found him guilty of forgery. In October 2004, he was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment, suspended for four years. Spiteri was charged in court of de- frauding Oscar-winning songwriter Les- lie Bricusse, whom Spiteri had advised to invest GBP150,000 in local bonds. Bricusse claimed none of his money had ever been invested, presenting docu- ments in court which he claimed were false. Bricusse said Spiteri had called his lawyer to offer USD3,000 to drop the court action against him. News – 04 February, 2007 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. Brexit is no fascist coup Denouncing hate speech Hands off our health services I recently read your article on fascism in Britain post-Brexit and have to say was stunned (Peter Apap Bologna, 'Democracy and Brexit', 29 January 2016). How dare you claim that Britain is heading towards fascism. You may have read a few books on the Second World War but you clearly know nothing about democracy. I voted out of the EU last year because I want my directly, democratically-elected Members of Parliament to have more say on UK laws than a bunch of un- elected committees and five (yes five) EU presidents that no-one I can see elected. The definition of Fascism is '1.an authoritarian and national- istic right-wing system of govern- ment and social organization'. Voting democratically does not mean my country is heading to- wards fascism quite the opposite. It shows that we are a working democracy and our MPs listen to the people not ignore them like unelected Brussels. Your point is poorly put to say the least on the view that a minority are deciding what hap- pens to Britain. No country in the world has 100% participation in elections, even in countries like Australia that make it a crime not to vote. If only 1 million people in Britain came out and voted on June 23rd last year and we won by 52% again for Out, that is still a majority of those who voted. If the younger generation can't be bothered to vote that is their loss. Otherwise we would have to, in your ill-informed view, re-run every general election because not more than 50% of people voted. Get your facts straight and look at the mess in the EU that the EU has been unable to sort out. The migrant crisis and the disastrous Wilkommen policy in Germany, the Euro crisis still goes on with Greece at the forefront of crip- pling repayments to the EU, Ukraine crisis smoulders on. Stay in the sinking ship that is the EU and you will see first hand what a terrible Idea the EU project is. They will drag you and your economy down while Britain starts trade deals with the other 6.4 billion people of the world. Your humble fascist subject of Freedonia… Alex Bennett United Kingdom The privatisation of the Gozo hospital and other facilities at St Luke's Hospital marks a departure point in the country's health system. Surprisingly, the privatisation is happening under a Labour government, a party which for years denounced the privatisation of various institu- tions and agencies by successive PN governments. The deal raises many suspi- cions especially since many pages from the contract between government and Vitals Global Healthcare on the privatisation of the St Luke's Hospital and the Gozo hospital were not pub- lished. Government has argued that the deal will see the country spending less on health but as the experience of other countries has showed us wherever priva- tisation is introduced, research shows that healthcare gets less equal and it suggests that more people end up in hospital or dead. In the UK, the outsourcing of NHS services to private com- panies damaged the quality of patient care because private enti- ties put profits before patients. Private companies have a duty to reward their shareholders, so they have to prioritise making a profit. This means they may end up cutting corners, or underin- vesting in public services. Privatisation and outsourcing of health services will not only erode the founding principles of free health care for everybody – which previously was a sacred cow for all parties in Malta – but they are a terrible waste of taxpayer money. Prioritising profits could also drive down wages and conditions of service. Also, private companies are not directly responsible to the people and cannot be held accountable like public authorities and politi- cians can. The drive to privatise first and think later is fundamentally flawed. Far from modernising the national health system, patients will end up with services that are less accountable and less efficient. Robert Grech San Gwann Disbarred lawyer hooks up with Tory MP This week the BBC had a feature on Holocaust Memorial Day and interviewed a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Susan Pollock. She describes the moment she was led into the camp with her mother on arrival. She says the dehumanisation started im- mediately. She ended her vivid description of the experience by appealing to everybody to continue to learn from the past to fight hate. Stating repeatedly the hate has no barrier, she concluded her interview by emphasising that we were all of us in it. She appealed that we must fight any form of hate propaganda not to allow the danger we face if we allow it to grow and prosper. George Camilleri Sliema