Tuesday December 13 will mean much more than Malta’s Republic Day to us shareholders of the National Bank of Malta.

It will remind us of the 43rd anniversary of the day when our human rights were violated due to our having been stripped of our shares in the bank and having been left without any form of compensation for all these years.

Two years ago the Constitutional Court of Malta established the fact that our human rights were violated and ruled that compensation was due to the shareholders. This judgement was later confirmed by the Maltese Court of Appeal. That was two years ago! Meanwhile the torture of postponement and procrastination have been the order of the day.

December 13, Republic Day, will also remind us of a number of shareholders who fell seriously ill and met their end within weeks of the takeover and also of other shareholders and their families who had to be helped financially to be able to buy their daily bread; two of whom ended up in a mental care institution.

Many other shareholders surviving to this day did not exactly have a normal comfortable life, both psychologically and physically. What was rightfully theirs was taken away from them and they were left with close to nothing to live on.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Justice has been denied because compensation due has been denied. Forty-three years is a lifetime.

This is not a matter to be taken lightly; it weighs heavily on the conscience of all those involved and who throughout these 43 years have sworn their loyalty and allegiance to our Republic and its Constitution. It is a 43-year-old cancerous scar on the face of our Republic.

It will remain so until justice is done and is seen to be done without further delay, insult and injury.