The majority of former National Bank of Malta shareholders are still keen on an out-of-court settlement despite a court decision upholding their long-standing battle for compensation.

Times of Malta is informed that during the long negotiations for a deal with the previous Nationalist Administration, the government had offered about €20 million in compensation. However, this was not accepted by the ex-shareholders whose demand was to the tune of €50 million.

Ex-shareholders said that although they estimated that the government and Maltese taxpayers had made about €700 million over the past 40 years as a result of the National Bank takeover in 1973 and the establishment of Bank of Valletta they were not expecting the Exchequer to give all that money back but were looking towards a “realistic” compensation

“If you take into consideration the assets of the bank at that time and the profits made by Bank of Valletta following the takeover we will be looking at astronomical figures of compensation.

All we want is fair compensation to end this saga

“However, we are realistic and all we want is fair compensation to end this saga,” a major former shareholder said.

Asked whether the ex-shareholders were still interested in an out-of-court settlement following Thursday’s court judgment, lawyer Max Ganado said the option of a settlement was still on the cards.

“We are ready to continue negotiations with the government on a fair and reasonable settlement,” he said.

So far, the government has not commented over the court decision that the constitutional rights of the National Bank of Malta shareholders had been breached when they were forced to surrender their stakes without any form of compensation.

It is not yet known whether the government will be appealing the case, as is its right, a move that would possibly further prolong the process leading to a final solution.

The decision on Thursday was a preliminary judgment in the case, which was instituted in 1992 by about 50 shareholders. Many of the original shareholders have passed on and are now represented by their heirs.

The decision to first issue a partial judgment before a final decision was agreed to by the parties to first establish whether the shareholders’ constitutional rights were breached.

According to Dr Ganado, now that a constitutional breach was established, the judge will proceed by hearing submissions over the value of the shares in question and the liquidation of damages.

“Now we will enter into a second round. We will make our submissions on the value of the shares and the court will decide on how much each former shareholder is to get in compensation,” Dr Ganado said.

The National Bank of Malta saga started in 1973 when, following a run on the bank, the government, led by Dom Mintoff, took over the bank with all its assets and liabilities.

The shareholders claimed they had been forced to surrender their shares and were not given any compensation.

A few months later, Bank of Valletta was established and took over the business of the National Bank of Malta.