Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/959046
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 28 MARCH 2018 News 5 MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. The value of investments can fall as well as rise and the repayment of the investment is not guaranteed. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Terms and Conditions apply. Zero entrance fees on fund investments in March and April. 2557 4400 info@medirect.com.mt Investing isn't scary. Retiring without enough cash in the bank is. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "Our operations are not adversely affected," he said. "Even if we lose the appeal, we have other avenues to pursue." Scerri also said that the pre- cautionary warrant does not affect shareholders and rub- bished suggestions that its re- cent €150 million rights issue was related to the Deiulemar case. "We have €2.9 billion parked with the ECB for capi- tal requirements… we would use this money to hive off €363 million on the precau- tionary warrant." Scerri scoffed at suggestions by the liquidators that BOV was unable to meet its obliga- tions. "We have credit ratings that are higher than Italy's top five banks," he said. Bank of Valletta took over a trust that held €363 million in assets of shipping company Deiulemar in 2009, which filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Two years later, seven members of the three founding families of the Deiulemar company were jailed for up to 17 years for il- legal financial transactions when the company collapsed. It was declared bankrupt in 2012 owing more than €800 million. They were found guilty of fraudulent bankruptcy, hav- ing transferred their assets to Maltese, Swiss, and British Virgin Islands trusts to avoid their exposure to creditors and the 13,000 retail investors who subscribed to their bonds. Bank of Valletta yesterday said that it had carried out an internal review of the due dili- gence employed when taking on the Deiulemar trust, when in 2014 the company bond- holders filed a claim against the bank and Banco Svizzero d'Italia Trust Corporation Limited Malta, a subsidiary of Swiss bank BSI, of Lugano. Bank of Valletta became a trustee for Trust Capital Trust, Trust Gaino, and Trust Gilda, which are being called on to answer for the €363 mil- lion claim. "The fraudulent actions took place in 2008, a year before BOV took over the trust," BOV's legal consultant Louis de Gabriele said. He said the bank had not been aware of the company controlling the Deiulemar shipping company itself, and of the liabilities they were hiding. "In 2009, there was no central register for ul- timate beneficial owners." Bankrupt shipping company filed claim MASSIMO COSTA IN the coming years, native Maltese students will be able to choose between two routes of studying the language – either the one leading to the SEC exam, or a new alternative "vocational Maltese" exam, targeted at stu- dents who might be having diffi- culties with the traditional exam and intend to go on studying in institutions such as MCAST or the Institute of Tourism Studies, education minister Evarist Bar- tolo said yesterday. Addressing a press conference meant to clarify the issues on the Maltese language currently being debated, Bartolo empha- sised the option to study Mal- tese as a foreign language would apply strictly to foreigners, and students who have one foreign and one Maltese parent will not qualify to sit for this exam. Bartolo also said that the cur- rent SEC exam will remain in place, and native students will be free to continue sitting for this exam, as would foreign stu- dents who choose this way of learning the language. "We want to do all we can to strengthen the teaching of Mal- tese in Malta, and the way it is used," Bartolo said, "Around 61% of Fifth Formers are passing the SEC exam, but we want to increase this." "Our plan is to reach more students," Bartolo highlighted, explaining that this was the aim behind introducing vocational Maltese, which should take place in 2021-22. He said the government was recommending that MCAST and ITS also impose a Maltese language requirement on all those who wish to further their education there. He added that he was keen to discuss what would be the best way to reach the children of par- ents, one of whom is Maltese but the other isn't, and who do not use Maltese in their every- day lives and might find it hard to sit for the SEC exam because of this and could benefit if other options were available. mcosta@mediatoday.com.mt Maltese as foreign language to remain only for foreigners Maltese students will be able to either follow the normal SEC course or learn 'vocational Maltese', depending on their circumstances