The Times is informed that the letter entitled Aftermath Of National Bank Takeover (Martyn Attard, August 6) contains a number of misrepresentations of fact concerning the family of the late Edgar Mizzi.

At and after the time of the takeover of the National Bank in 1973, two of Dr Mizzi’s sons were and remained junior members of staff of Diamantino Manfré & Co, until they qualified in 1976. Only one of Dr Mizzi’s sons became a partner in the firm and this on January 1, 1980. The other had left the firm late in 1978 to take up a post with another organisation but returned to take up a shareholding and a managerial role in an associate company of the firm, at the end of 1979. Some six years had therefore lapsed between the events described by Mr Attard and the acquisition of an ownership interest by Dr Mizzi’s sons.

The Times disassociates itself from Mr Attard’s inferences and apologises to the Mizzi family.