The Prime Minister has agreed to meet former National Bank of Malta shareholders ahead of formal negotiations for an out-of-court settlement, sparking fresh hope for closure despite attempts by the government to drop the 35-year court battle.
We hope that this will be a first step towards a fair and equitable settlement
Lawrence Gonzi will meet a group of shareholders for informal discussions on July 19, a day before the negotiation team they elected a month ago begins formal talks with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech.
The shareholders, who insist their bank was unjustly seized by the Labour government in 1973, recently agreed to seek an out-of-court settlement to bring an end to the four-decade saga.
“We hope this will be a first step towards a fair and equitable settlement, which would rectify this travesty of justice... So many years after justice was promised, we hope that it will soon be delivered,” Milica Micovic, one of the four members of the negotiation team, told The Times.
She will meet the Finance Minister on July 20, together with Edward Attard Montalto, Conrad Cassar Torregiani, Marcus Marshall and the team’s banking consultant.
The aim is to hammer out an agreement that would see about 300 shareholders compensated for their losses – a settlement that is expected to cost the government tens of millions of euro.
The negotiators, which have been given a mandate to negotiate on behalf of all the shareholders, will have to present the agreed settlement to them for final approval.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Cassar Torregiani – who has launched a media campaign to raise awareness to the plight of the shareholders – has organised the informal meeting with the Prime Minister.
Dr Gonzi will be given a presentation about the National Bank saga in the context of the current political and economic scenario.
The story gained fresh attention recently, partly due to the documentary Dear Dom.
In May, The Sunday Times revealed that the Attorney General had in 2010 filed a fresh plea in court to drop the court case on the grounds that it was time-barred.
The plea has been criticised by several people, including former PN president Frank Portelli and historian Henry Frendo.
In an interview, Ms Micovic, director of the Tagliaferro family business (the single largest corporate shareholder of the National Bank), had accused the Nationalist government of being an “accomplice” of Mr Mintoff’s.
Even the Labour Party has suggested the government dismiss its time-bar plea and allow the court to take an independent decision.
The government has failed to react to the criticism, but PN MP Robert Arrigo said this was a “complex” issue that he had tried to help resolve in 2010.
One of the problems, he had said, was that the shareholders did not present a common front.