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MT 21 May 2017

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 MAY 2017 32 Opinion FORMER finance minister John Dalli sent out a 'corrective' message to Law- rence Gonzi earlier this week, with a re- minder that Malta's successful accession to the eurozone was in part thanks to his work when he ran the exchequer. In a clear message to his former leadership rival, who took over the finance portfolio after becoming prime minister in 2003, Dalli expressed sub- tle indignation that the efforts of his ministry at curbing the deficit had not been acknowledged. In a reaction to Gonzi's state- ment in parliament on Monday, who claimed the reduction of the deficit started three years ago when he be- come finance minister, Dalli wrote on Thursday in The Times, that the "fruit-pickers who today are harvesting the toils of the past should be loyal to their predecessors and acknowledge the fact." Instead, he made direct reference to Gonzi's role in beefing up the defi- cit, when as social policy minister he negotiated the cancellation of all ac- cumulated debt at the Malta Drydocks – Lm300 million back in 2003 – by charging it to the government account. "A statement quoted recently was: 'Malta has come a long way since 2003, when its public deficit amounted to 10 per cent of GDP'. But the man who quoted this phrase should have known that the 10 per cent referred to was the result of many millions of liri in debt by Malta Drydocks, accumulated over many years and being charged to the government account all in that one year after the arrangement for the MDD restructuring was finalised." Dalli's unequivocal swipe at the prime minister and his junior minister for finance, Tonio Fenech, came with an epical description of his time at the finance ministry: "Today's achieve- ments are the fruit picked from the trees planted in the hostile soil of division… watered by the sweat of hard work, and pruned by sensible negotia- tions." He poured cold water over Gonzi's back-slapping when he wrote that to- day's achievements were no "short-term miracle". He then wrote that the reduction of the deficit by Lm48 million between 2003 and 2006, by which time he had resigned as minister and relegated to the backbenches, was due to the increase in VAT and income tax rev- enues, and in grants he had negotiated, all before 2003 when he was minister. "So much for miracles!" he scoffed. His other swipe referred to Gonzi's young career, who entered the Cabi- net in 1998 as social policy minister. "Those of us who worked since 1987 to put this country right were not absorbed by the book-keeping but were primarily focused on bringing our country out of misguided socialist stagnation and into a vibrant market economy, based on civil liberties, em- powered institutions, a developed and accessible education system, a first- class health system and a reasonable social safety net," Dalli wrote. News – 22 May 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. Dalli takes umbrage at Gonzi in most public jab so far A matter of public interest For any party to enrich a small clique, at the expense of the ma- jority of honest constituents is never clever but, let us not forget, that both major political parties in Malta have been tainted by negative allegations of graft and corruption over the years – not just the PL, who are now in the firing line. Allied Newspapers (publish- ers of the Times of Malta and the Sunday Times of Malta) built their reputation on the independence of their cover- age of events. Mabel Strickland (the company's former proprie- tor) tried hard to ensure this independence was maintained, not only on her watch but into the future, by providing for a trust to be set up, on her death, to protect her legacy for her heir and also to provide funds for the training of journalists for the maintenance of a free press. At the same time she was set- ting up an endowment to provide welfare for her staff and families who might ever be in need. This contingent trust was, however, changed into the Strickland Foundation in 1979 with most of the same objectives but, impor- tantly, including the statement that it was set up for "herself and her heirs in perpetuity". Yet Mabel Strickland's legacy (amounting to over €30 million in today's money) appears to have been hijacked by the very people she had placed in posi- tions of trust to ensure her fam- ily legacy survived, by persistent- ly refusing to allow her heir to be involved in her plans for family succession. Instead, these execu- tors appointed their own two sons to assist them in controlling the Strickland Foundation. Max Ganado (son of one of the original executors) has since re- signed from the Foundation but Mario de Marco (son of the other executor and now the deputy leader of the PN) is still the dominant Council Member on the Strickland Foundation. Apart from one exception, these execu- tors, and their sons, have been responsible for the appointment of every other Council member, whilst, at the same time, ensur- ing that Mabel Strickland's sole heir has been blocked from any involvement for the last 28 years. We have been informed by the board that all of Allied's detailed financial records pre-2000 (relat- ing to several million euros of irregular dividends paid to the Strickland Foundation before they were even registered as a shareholder), have allegedly been destroyed. The independence of the press, so cherished by my aunt, has been severely compromised by this "takeover" of the Strickland Foundation. This, together with an alleged dividend distribu- tion in excess of €3 million from Allied Newspapers to the Strickland Foundation (when not even a registered shareholder), is surely a story of public interest, yet the Times is not interested. I understand the terms of refer- ence of the internal report into the allegations against former managing director Adrian Hill- man specifically excluded any questions of Mario de Marco, the legal advisor to Allied, about his previously close friendship with Hillman. The report looked into allegations of corruption involv- ing offshore bank accounts but the board has refused to publish its findings or show the report to the minority shareholders. In- stead, the erstwhile leader of this inquiry appears to have been 're- warded' with the chairmanship of the Strickland Foundation. With this sort of unaccount- ability, hypocrisy and complete lack of transparency, where pro- fessional people who form part of the establishment appear to go unchecked, it is hardly surprising that in recent years, behaviour such as this has become endem- ic, on the adage of "if they can get away with it, why shouldn't we?" If the PN really wishes to be taken seriously as an anti-cor- ruption party, how can it allow its own senior representatives to behave in the same way? There is the old maxim that people in glasshouses should not throw stones, and one would think that if you are going to beat cor- ruption then you need to lead by example, whatever political colouring your coat may be. To check these injustices, I have been forced, after years of attempted negotiations for an amicable settlement, to file two court actions, which are now being hampered by the refusal of the de Marco family and Max Ganado to pass over my aunt's legal files and all of her execu- tors' files, which belong to me, but are in their possession. Ganado is even ignoring a court order telling him to do so. What- ever are these people trying to hide with such diversionary tactics? This situation needs to be investigated every bit as much as other alleged wrongdoings by other parties because the losers, in this situation, apart from the heir and other minority share- holders, are the employees of Allied and the loyal readers of the Times and Sunday Times, because they are not being given all of the stories of public inter- est or even the benefit of full and accurate journalistic reporting. Robert Hornyold-Strickland Lija It's all about facts MARTIN Scicluna is well known for his pungent articles. In a recent article, he remind- ed one and all that a person is innocent until he is proven guilty. In the present political climate we have the situation of an early election because the Prime Minister felt too offend- ed personally by an allegation, so far unproven, that Panama company Egrant is owned by his wife. The article immediately drew the ire of conservative quar- ters, the most notable from Dr Roger Vella Bonavita, a sea- soned historian. Dr Vella Bonavita's argument was that circumstantial evi- dence was enough to light the flame of political controversy. The rest will lie in the lap of public judgement. What I take this to mean is that, in politics, allegations do not pass by un- noticed without any reaction being made. However, allegations can nev- er take the place of facts where the administration of political honesty and true justice are concerned. I write as a commoner. I simply have an opinion of my own. I am not powerful or in- fluential academically. Surely one cannot ignore circumstan- tial evidence but certainly not in replacement of crude facts which must be proven before judgement is passed. Where Dr Vella Bonavita amazes me is how a person of his stature, a grand believer of the rule of facts being first and foremost a historian, can ever side with the Leader of the Op- position who incessantly push- es yet unproven allegations. We know that politicians lie all the times. Here we have a young Prime Minister who has done, on the whole, wonderfully well for the country in the last four years and has everything to lose if he is caught lying. The Prime Minister made unequivocal public statements denying the accusations lev- elled against him. He repeated his claim of innocence and declared that he would com- mit political hara-kiri if any slight evidence against him or his wife is found. On the other hand, we have the Leader of the Opposition who sticks to an ar- gument based on accusations which are yet to be proven. And yet he would not commit himself politically if the accu- sations are proven to be false. Such is honest politics. Dr Vella Bonavita prefers to side with Madame Defarge. In my view, Dr Vella Bonavita, the historian, has lost the plot as far as objective political com- ments are concerned. In my view, it is Martin Scicluna who is in the right. George Camilleri Sliema

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