Labour MP Evarist Bartolo yesterday warned the Malta Financial Services Authority that it would be betraying its mission and abrogating its duty if did not give the investigative report on the BOV’s La Vallette Property Fund to all investors. If the MFSA continued to refuse to do this, it would become an accomplice to a network of freemasons. Hundreds of families had been deceived and were not receiving protection from the MFSA.
Speaking in Parliament during the debate on the opposition motion to set up a permanent committee for family affairs, Mr Bartolo said the report contained lists of high ranking bank officials who, three years ago, had withdrawn €17 million on behalf of the bank from the fund and warned relatives and friends to do the same thing after international companies involved in criminal activities had invested in the fund. People with strong links had withdrawn their investment.
The BOV had made a profit of some €7 million from the fund.
Mr Bartolo said the MFSA was obliged by law to publish the report, adding that this was “a scandal”. Despite the fact that both the MFSA and BOV had a system of checks and balances they allowed this wrongdoing.
He said that some 2,000 Maltese investors – hundreds of them small earners with some coming from the south of Malta – had, six years ago, invested in the fund without knowing its full implications and without being informed that it was aimed at professional investors.
It was the MFSA’s duty to protect these investors and not let the bank offer miserable compensation to uninformed investors who were reluctant to go to court because of the expenses involved and the time the case could drag in court.
Investors had been deceived by the BOV, he said.
If the MFSA wanted to help families it was its duty to take the necessary steps and not be an accomplice in this scandal.
Mr Bartolo also criticised the government for remaining neutral. The minister did not see Our Lady weeping over this scandal, he noted.
Strengthening the family meant making family-friendly comprehensive policies and inculcating a culture where, from an early age, children were taught what real love, respect, family and care were all about. This had to be extended to supporting families passing through difficult times. These policies should not be made out of convenience.
Mr Bartolo agreed with the approach proposed on all domestic and national policies presented in a developing EU economic and social policy on strengthening the family. These included policies on fighting social exclusion and poverty; for training in skills; housing; public transport services and charges; utility prices and their effect on families; employment, social services, taxation systems and education.
He believed in comprehensive policies which included care services, gender equality, pensioner rights, parental leave and the chance to work part-time to strike a work-life balance.
Government policies in the energy sector weakened the economic strength of families. Social services only mitigated part of the problem.
Mr Bartolo noted that Scandinavia had one of the best family-friendly policies in Europe. These included reform in leave entitlements to enable parents to stay with their children, and child care services for the under three’s where Malta still lagged behind. Much more investment was needed in child care centres by the government.
Scandinavian governments gave recognition to work in the home and with children and provided tax measures and family laws. He said there was also the need in Malta to give support to families in order to increase the birth rate if the economy had to be strengthened.
Mr Bartolo called for greater coordination between education and health authorities. He called on the government to implement the Child Development Assessment Unit (CDAU) task force’s report and put in place systems that gave support to children and babies with disability. Early intervention was a necessity. The unit lacked resources to provide support to some 2,000 clients.
Agencies such as Appoġġ and Sapport also needed assistance, otherwise they remained weak and ineffective.
In a small country like Malta it was wrong to have regulators in authorities appointed by the government. One such case was the Malta Resources Authority which tried to justify the government’s actions instead of protecting consumers on utility tariffs which were unaffordable for most families.
Families had to be supported out of conviction and not out of convenience, Mr Bartolo said.