Justice Minister’s mistress ‘facilitates’ Bank of Valletta judging panel for Branch of the Year Award

This is from the Bank of Valletta’s intranet. The bank had a judging panel for its Branch of the Year Award last night at the Westin Dragonara and that panel was “facilitated” – whatever this means – by the Labour Party television journalist, Janice Bartolo, who is the Justice Minister’s mistress.

The bank official who sent me this screen shot said: “With more than 1,500 employees the bank could easily have found an internal solution, and if it really wanted a journalist then it could have opted for an independent one.”

I’ll add something else. In public affairs (which is like public relations but not quite), morality issues have to be considered in a corporation’s image, particularly that of a leading bank. Using a cabinet minister’s mistress – who is the focal point of scandal as the cause of the breakdown of his marriage to a hardworking nurse when he was already in office – for a high-profile event like this, which is designed to build the bank’s image both externally and internally, is a complete and utter no-no.

Whether there is a high rate of marriage breakdown in Malta or not is completely irrelevant. Whatever the bank directors’ personal views or personal situations are is also completely irrelevant. The point is that when you choose a married cabinet minister’s girlfriend for something like this, and use her to help brand your event, you are making a direct statement about your corporation’s standards. It is tragic that something which established corporations understand instinctively – elsewhere – without the help of public affairs specialists has to be explained to the directors of one of Malta’s two main banks.

The facilitator for the Bank of Valletta’s judging panel.