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THE BANKING SCANDAL THAT WAS

The Cauchi mystery has led us to another infamous scandal, this time involving Mid Med Bank.

This scandal confirms this government’s impotence in tackling the crime and corruption that occurred under Labourite prime ministers Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and was never tackled by either premiers.

Indeed many of the individuals mentioned in the Mid Med inquiry ended up back in their seats with no remedial action taken.

The link to the Cauchi mystery is the fact that the same people that are repeatedly mentioned in the Silvio Meli magisterial inquiry reappear yet again.

Not only did Victor Balzan and Piju Camilleri involve themselves in irregular land dealings but they used the bank then described as Malta’s crown jewel to acquire massive funds through unorthodox methods.

The Mid Med Bank scandal would not have surfaced had it not been for the testimony of Wenzu Mintoff, an incorruptible and upright former MLP whip, later to be Alternattiva Demokratika chairman but now back in the Labour party fold.

He then worked as a legal advisor to the bank in the late eighties. Wenzu Mintoff in a press conference he gave on the 13 November 1993 described what he had told Judge Anastasi.

Once again the same issues surface: who you know or don’t know, omertà and money.