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maltatoday SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2018 28 The former Maltese prime minister Dom Mintoff publishes his letters to world lead- ers on a personal blog. In an exclusive insight into his letters to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, Lawrence Gonzi, and the European Com- mission president José Barroso, we reveal the enigmatic 92-year-old maverick's world view of local and world politics. His letters to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi are lessons in political history, possibly the very excerpts of the autobiog- raphy he is reputed to be writing. He tells José Manuel Barroso that US president George W. Bush has "stealthily" managed to curtail freedom of thought in Malta through EU membership. And he claims the Commissioner of Police has held him prisoner in his own home for the past three years for being a "danger to national security". These and other bold statements are what former Labour prime minister Dom Mintoff has been publishing since last October in a personal blog which is kept by his 'honorary secretary' Mario Borg. The letters, signed by Mintoff himself, contain the unmistakably crisp insights and recol- lections of the man who held sway over the Maltese islands for 16 years, but even the paranoia that seems to have taken over the recluse at The Olives, his Tarxien residence. To Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, he presents himself as "Doctor Dominic Mintoff, Emeritus Prime Minis- ter and Founder of the Republic of Malta. Held under surveillance by the CIA as directed by G.W. Bush", a claim of forced imprisonment which he repeats through- out his letters in varying degrees. He tells Barroso that "little [had he] dreamt that suppression of information and freedom of thought would land me for the past three years into a prison on parole in my own house that had endangered my life several times and made it impossible for me to reach the ears of the Maltese people". And he tells Gonzi that he is "held like a leper incommunicado in his water-infected home" and that the Commissioner of Po- lice "has chosen to become the local head of intelligence in the service of NATO and CIA." So this is how the former Labour leader Dom Mintoff describes himself – a poign- ant picture of an elderly statesman kept under watch by international intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Mugabe's record "similar to mine" Even more bizarre is Mintoff 's assertion that Mugabe's "record is similar to mine". Like him, Mugabe was a post-colonial leader, hailing from the left-wing spec- trum of resistance, although Mintoff was a Fabian socialist, and Mugabe a com- munist. Interestingly, Mintoff says he met Mugabe in 1980 – the year of independ- ence for Zimbabwe – when Britain's prime minister Jim Callaghan asked Mintoff to mediate a closer cooperation between rivals Joshua Nkomo, the Zapu leader, and Mugabe. Unless he is mistaken on a question of detail, they are probably the peace negotiations held in London a year before; the ones which deprived Mugabe of "the ultimate joy", a military victory, and instead pushed for the formation of a coali- tion government (urged on by Britain) with Nkomo, and integrating their two rival guerrilla armies into a new national army. Mintoff writes that he met representa- tives from Mugabe's Zanu-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) twice at his Delimara retreat "after my cus- tomary bathe in Peter's Pool", coming to "an understanding" on a strategy on deal- ing with Ian Smith. What that strategy is exactly is not understood in his letter, but he mentions the word "isolation". Mint- off suddenly rambles off on Smith, the Rhodesian white supremacist who handed power over to Mugabe in 1980, describing him as "courageous and incorruptible", and writing that he died being interviewed by journalists in Harare, "while the same journalists were telling the 'western media' that Mugabe was a cruel autocrat sup- pressing human rights." http://archive.maltatoday.com. mt/2008/02/10/t2.html 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 – 6 February, 2008 Mintoff writes to Mugabe, claims Bush has CIA watching him Opinion Strickland House sale In your newspaper article, pub- lished on the proposed sale of Strickland House which appeared online on January 30 and in print on January 31, a statement was made that Allied Newspapers is "owned by the Strickland Founda- tion". Unfortunately, I need to record that the statement made is not factually correct and therefore I trust you will permit me to enlighten your readers that there are still, in fact, several Strickland family shareholders in Allied Newspapers today, where I am the second largest registered share- holder. As your readers will also be aware, the validity of the majority shareholding of the newspaper group, currently registered to the Strickland Foundation is also being challenged, through the courts, by myself, as the sole heir of my aunt's Mabel Strickland's estate. Allow me to explain the situation, in brief, as the matter is currently before the courts. This majority shareholding of the newspaper group was registered by the Company, Allied Newspapers Ltd, in the name of the Strickland Foundation in 2010 some 22 years after Mabel's death and completely without the knowledge or approval of her heir. This highly irregular transfer was only made in haste, when I filed a legal action, in court, against the Executors and the Strickland Foundation some two weeks earlier, in early January 2010. No valid documentation has ever been produced to support this transfer. Up until 2010, strangely, these shares had been held, in the personal names of the Executors on behalf of the estate. The entire validity of this irregular transfer is being investigated in a case before the contentious courts (1136/2015/ SM). It is being challenged because, I, as sole heir, have never either had sight of (or even been given) any valid instrument of transfer, and anyway, these shares could never be and still cannot be held by the Strickland Foundation under the restrictions of Allied Newspa- pers own articles of association. Furthermore, my aunt's own will is conflicted on the very subject of this legacy to the Strickland Foundation but it is a statement of fact that the Strickland Foundation deed itself states that it was set up for the benefit of Mabel, "herself, and her heirs in perpetuity". Currently the Strickland Founda- tion is controlled by other parties not connected with the family, and I, as her sole heir have been deliberately excluded by these people ever since my aunt's death, 30 years ago. Thus, the above case was filed by me, on behalf of my aunt's estate in order to cancel this highly irregu- lar 2010 transfer and return the shares to the estate. However, due to the time that it takes in Malta to hear such proceedings, no decision has yet been reached because the full evidence has yet to be pre- sented to the Courts. Nevertheless, this is a matter of public interest. Despite this, of further concern, even before these shares were improperly registered at the MFSA by the Company Secretary (who, in a conflicted position, works for DeMarco & Associates), Allied has paid dividends amounting to many millions of euros, quite improperly, to the Strickland Foundation dur- ing the period 1989 to 2009 – that is dividends being paid to a non- shareholder for decades! Allied Newspapers, until my aunt's death, was owned and run by the Strickland family, supported by a very loyal workforce with a proud tradition of independence. It is well known, by many in Malta, that my aunt Mabel wished this status quo to continue on after her death when, in 1979 she set up, her Strickland Foundation "for herself and her heirs in perpetuity", yet it seems, up to now, Mabel's true wishes have been disrespected and totally thwarted. Robert Hornyold Strickland, Lija Investigations under the Money Laundering Act Reference is made to your edito- rial of the 21 January, 2018, where it is stated that the "AG told the committee that he had no execu- tive authority to investigate allega- tions about money laundering; the Chief Justice said that the Money Laundering Act empowered the local authorities to initiate investi- gations 'even without reasonable suspicion'…". Please note that, to the extent that this statement concerns ap- plications by the Attorney General for investigation orders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, I never said that such applica- tions can be applied for without reasonable suspicion. Silvio Camilleri Chief Justice Fr John Mary Cauchi's dedication to Brazil's land reform Recently I had the opportunity to attend the golden anniversary of the priesthood of Fr John Mary Cauchi, originally of Gharb in Gozo, in Sao Miguel de Taipu in Paraiba Brazil. I always admired his dedication to help bring about land reform in his region through the Pastoral Land Commission, commonly known as CPT, of the Catholic Church. Dur- ing the Mass I had the opportunity to present to him a version of a book, which I had just published entitled "The Pastoral Land Com- mission – with the Participation of Fr John Mary Cauchi". The reader, apart from five chapters in the second part, dealing with the participation of Fr Cauchi, which include the agrarian conflict as reported in the newspapers, has an opportunity to know a gist of the teaching and involvement of the Catholic Church, in Brazil's struggle in favour of the land reform. This part includes methods and strategies in Brazil and in the world; the birth of the Pastoral Land Commission; the murder of activists; the different variations of farmsteads – about 20 definitions; the support to the indigenous peo- ple; an interview with the late Mgr Tomas Balduino the founder of the CPT; the Mgr Oscar Award by Dayton University of USA; Women honoured by the Parana Legislative Assembly; the Centre for Biblical Studies and the Pilgrimage of the Martyrs for Land Reform. One can find the English version of the book in the website of the Gozo Diocese. His Excellency Mgr Mario Grech presented an excel- lent and extensive foreword to my book. As a magisterial support to Fr John Mary Cauchi's involve- ment, I concluded my epilogue by referring to the thoughts of Pope Francis in his speech at the World Meeting of Popular Movements in Bolivia, where he defended land reform and made harsh criticism of agribusiness. On citing the Social Teaching of the Church, Pope Francis recalled that "the land reform apart from being a political necessity is a moral obligation." He is preoccupied with the exclusion of so many farmers, not because of wars and natural disas- ters, but rather as a result of being expelled. Fr John Caruana Sarandi-Parana, Brazil @ maltatoday