He may be a fraudster, but he’s right about Yana Mintoff and the rest of the hypocrites

On timesofmalta.com, today:

MINTOFF FOUNDATION CREATOR IN JAIL

by Ivan Camilleri

The man behind the Dom Mintoff Foundation, Josef Grech, is serving time in prison over fraud-related charges.

Despite the foundation’s immediate rejection by both the former Prime Minister’s family and the Labour Party, Mr Grech, who refers to himself as “Prof. Grech”, vowed to formally launch it the day after he is released.

PL sources said Mr Grech is facing a number of court cases connected to fraud charges.

He was jailed after being found guilty of defrauding Bank of Valletta, HSBC and the government. He is expected to be released by the end of this year.

Speaking from prison, Mr Grech insisted his jail term had nothing to do with the foundation. “Does the fact that I’m serving a prison sentence make me a lesser Labour supporter?” he asked.

He said he used to regularly meet Mr Mintoff with former Labour MP (and former Nationalist activist) Sandro Schembri Adami, who has also been jailed for defrauding clients.

“I continued to be Mintoff’s friend even when everyone, including many in the Labour Party he founded and who are today at the helm, abandoned him.”

Both the Mintoff family and Labour have officially dissociated themselves from the new foundation – established a day after the former Labour leader’s death – stating they did not recognise it.

The foundation, which according to Mr Grech has already obtained a VAT number and is being registered as a non-profit organisation, has sent many letters asking for membership fees.

Mr Mintoff’s eldest daughter, Yana, said she had asked the police to investigate the foundation’s authenticity.

However, Mr Grech insisted that everything was above board and the only aim was to honour the former Labour leader.

“Yana was never here and she only came to stay with her father in the past two years,” he said.

“It was people like me and a very few others who stayed with Mintoff through thick and thin, even when today’s Labour Party rejected him and called him a traitor,” he said.

According to Mr Grech, the foundation will soon publish a biography that will deal with the years “when Mintoff was ostracised by his own party”.