The recent “revival” of the National Bank of Malta issue brought back much memories and heartache of the past. My family were shareholders and at the time I distinctly remember my cousin going up to “sign off” the shares following a telephone call from a senior staff member of the bank.

However, the sting in the tail of these “voluntary” sign-offs was the threat by the government to pass a law to retract “limited liability” from the bank with the related consequences that this could have. This threat was later evidenced in court by the people to whom it was made, so it was not an idle threat.

I am not going to enter into the merits of the case, enough has been said about that, but I would like to recall that during the 1986 election campaign the Nationalist Party leadership at the time would in public meetings state that if elected the matter would be attended to and solved without delay. Fast forward to 26 years later and the matter is still unsolved, not only that but we now find out that the government has even entered a plea of prescription to put yet another spanner in the wheels of justice delayed.

This government of lawyers knows full well that such a plea is a moral plea and to make it in this case, in my view, renders it quite the opposite.