A little-known fact: Mintoff wanted the National Bank of Malta to become a part-Libyan bank
When Mintoff performed his heist on the National Bank of Malta, he wanted Libya to invest in it. This comment by former career diplomat Evarist Saliba, on timesofmalta.com’s comments-board beneath a National Bank story a few days ago, escaped the notice of The Times reporters who rush to regurgitate everything Pullicino Orlando says on Facebook.
Some people wouldn’t know a story if it slashed them in the face.
Evarist Saliba
I was leading the Embassy of Malta at the time. I was instructed to call on the head of the Libyan overseas organization (the exact name escapes me) to protest that he had not responded to a request from the Maltese government to invest in the bank that was being set up instead of the National Bank, and I did so on the morrow, Christmas Day.
The response was that he, as a Libyan Arab banker, would be worried if an Israeli bank were to be in
trouble. Mintoff’s behaviour had exacerbated the problem and he (the Libyan banker) was not ready to beinvolved. He also objected to the way his deputies were treated by Maltese government officials when they
went to Malta to discuss the matter. It seems that they wanted him to go to Malta in person.
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Then he had to make do with “Banco di Sicilia”.
The bank in question was the Bank of Libya.
For the sake of accuracy, the Libyan official that I talked to was the head of the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment organization which become more commonly known by its initials LAFICO.
His condemnation of Mintoff’s dealing with the situation was as strong as that which eventually emerged in sworn statements before the Maltese court.
We had sunk to an incredibly low point when a spokesman for Libyan banks, in answer to a request from Mintoff, felt the need to express disgust at the conduct of Mintoff’s government that aggravated the problem when what was needed was our central bank intervention to halt a contrived run on the Malta banks.
“escaped the notice of The Times reporters who rush to regurgitate everything Pullicino Orlando says on Facebook”.
If The Times has employed reporters lately, I haven’t noticed. Its news reports seem to have been written by a 14-year-old who spends rather too much time on Facebook and who barely knows how to string together a couple of sentences.
Besides, the editor seems to have adopted a policy of lambasting the government every other day.
Let’s focus on the real stories, shall we, rather than report what Tom, Dick and Harry say on Facebook.
Which serious politician gripes on FB anyway?