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Posted on a Forum 12th March 2009,
There were plenty of reasons why the National Bank of
Malta (NBOM) was targeted by Mintoff and his echelons in those dark days know as
the Mintoffian era. There was a rumour that the NBOM was planning to pay off a
parliamentary member of the Mintoff party (MLP) and therefore creating a crisis
that will require the Government to hold fresh elections. The money was being
collected by the then Directors of the NBOM, there were other notable members of
society who joined in this conspiracy collection, mainly Mr. Euch. Zammit and Roger
Cammileri. The money was almost all collected (approx.70%) but Mr.Zammit's
conscience got the better of him and decided
to confess to Mintoff the 'ill doings' of the NBOM and company. Revenge had its way and
Mintoff punished Mr.Cammileri and the NBOM for the bad deed. Mr.Zammit suddenly became
very friendly and remained so for a long time, business ventures seem to thrive
from then on too. Whatever happened to Mr.Roger Camilleri and the NBOM, well we
all know their fate. As one would say, "Revenge is a dish best served cold".
I was a 'labourist' when the man of the moment was Mintoff,
a time I knew lots
of people in the new ' labour' camp.
I kept my ears to the ground as they would say.
In 1975 I emigrated to Australia, when I realised Malta was in for a very very
rough ride.
What I found out would shock some people, but I knew the truth would not easily
be believed by everyone.
It began in 1967, a man close to Mintoff had told him that 'he knew a man from
Hong Kong who could solve Malta's deficit problem and with the very same stone
break down the castle the rich had been building at the expense of the
poor'.
So that year the man from Hong Kong came to visit Malta, we shall call him 'Mr.
Short'.
Mr. Short told Mintoff how to rid the island of these pesky rich people by
robbing from them and giving to the poor, but the man from Hong Kong wanted a
reward.
This short man had once made a name for himself in Hong Kong, in Insurance.
Unfortunately, maybe partly because of lack of money or maybe tough competition,
he couldn't compete with the big boys.
He was forced out of his homeland and now even the people of Hong Kong sent him
packing.
Mr. Short looked for another country to corrupt.
He advised many on how easy it was for a Government to take 'something' for the
good of the people, after all it was being done all the time in Asia, and he had
first hand experience.
Mintoff being a sceptical man didn't believe everything this man from Hong Kong
said.
Therefore Mintoff tried his idea on an easy target at first, before going for the big
lion.
Mintoff wasn't really bothered about the English bank, he
knew that if he hit the Maltese bank hard enough, he would hit a home run.
The first bank was easy to take, there was already lots of talk, on underhanded deals, and so a few more would
not do any harm - on the contrary, they would do for him a world of good.
Mintoff then moved quickly, he wanted to create a bank to 'take over' and control
the 'Islands money deals'.
He realised that if Pace's signed over half the shares to 'Mintoff's' people, then
could reward Pace with a piece of the pie and share in this lucrative plan
- to create the largest and
possibly only profitable bank on the Island.
But luck was not on Mintoff's side, and so he let the corrupt law put Pace away for a long time.
Unfortunately only Pace really knew how to run the bank, it was really a one man
show, there were too many problems. It quickly transpired that Mintoff's people
were incapable of running a complicated affair, and so Mintoff let his dogs chew
on the bones.
He then turned to his friend from Hong Kong again, hoping that his other plan
would fair better, as the 'National' had lots of liquid cash and lots more
assets than Bical.
Bical was a bank that played the risk game and was always low on liquidity but
lots of assets. So as his loyal dogs ate up Bical assets like cheesecakes, he
turned his attention to the 'National'.
The man from Hong Kong advised Mintoff to deposit a 'few'
millions in the Bank, then to send Government workers and unemployed people to
withdraw these money from different branches.
Mintoff the usual always impatient, almost made a hash up of the plan. But his ruthlessness,
quick thinking and bullying quickly put people in their right place.
The man from Hong Kong now hatched a new plan, as Mintoff played with the rules
of the Government, creating his own laws, and doing what he knew best, persuaded
his loyal dogs to do the dirty work for him.
Now his plan came together.
The opposing political party did not interfere, the majority of the people were
now against them, scared and cowardly they hid from sight for fear of a reprisal
for all the years of deprivation suffered by the poor.
Mintoff now gathered his men, it was easy for him, hate is a fine weapon, and so is fear
when one knows how to use it and when.
Mintoff certainly knew how
to play his cards.
Then man from Hong Kong put his plan to work, the Bank with lots of liquidity
and plenty of assets, created a threefold.
A Bank for the people, or as Mintoff wanted it to be known as the 'Bank
tal-Poplu', but the man from Hong Kong had already given it a name which Mintoff
hated and so they settled for 'Bank tal-Belt' and later to be known as Bank of
Valletta.
The other was a manufacturing company, the Malta Development Corporation, to
gather all other manufacturing dreams Mintoff had plotted, and there was
obviously the Insurance
company.
So born were the three towers that would now control Malta's finance's.
The castle (National) was crushed from within, the centre point from where most
of Malta's large financial institutions were borne, now at the hands of the man
with a mad dream, to heal Malta from the large debt the Nationalists had made
and hope to get out of the world recession.
In fact the very sentence from the Statement by the chairman from the annual
Report and Accounts 1975 of Bank of Valletta stated "While congratulating
the Maltese nation on these remarkable achievements we take pride in stating
that the Bank of Valletta has in a variety of ways contributed towards this
economic development and growth".
Now I knew Malta was lost, lost to a world dominated by Mintoff in fear and in
hate. So I made a new life for myself, away from these cursed islands of Malta.
"Do you know why the latest government won't help the
'National' shareholders? Pig headed pride."
This letter was posted on the internet in November 1998
as gossip.
The author (anonymous) quite rightly recommends to each reader "the
truth would not easily be believed by everyone".
disclaimer
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