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Matthew Vella
Erstwhile premier Dom Mintoff’s pursuit for compensation from the Water Services Corporation after his water and electricity were cut off for unpaid bills has come in for some serious revelations about the reclusive firebrand.
Mintoff is also claiming that his bills, some Lm1,300 according to his statement, were paid without him “knowing or wanting”.
In his first appearance in court recently, Mintoff pleaded to Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia that he was “ill and supposed to be in bed.” In his ensuing palaver, Mintoff was asked to stop and allowed by the judge to submit his testimony in an affidavit, saving him the inconvenience of coming to court.
According to claims submitted in an affidavit to the court, the 88-year old former Malta Labour Party leader claimed that four particular events had contributed to the worsening of his health.
According to Mintoff, in his bid to file a human rights claim against the WSC, “…the professor who was caring for me issued a certificate declaring that with what was happening to me, I would not have the possibility to walk again with the living.”
These included tampering (tbaghbis) with his telephone, mail and computer, which he said he reported to the Commissioner of Police, instructing him to inform the Home Affairs Minister of what was happening.
Another was the fact that the guards who safeguard his house, ‘The Olives’, at Hal-Tarxien, were accusing each other of sabotaging his car.
Two other curious incidents mentioned by Mintoff as contributing to his health scare was the fact that he had “disagreed with the decision by the former Prime Minister Fenech Adami… to make an agreement wit the EU, and with him taking part in the decision to become President of the Republic when he was still a Prime Minister…”
Mintoff also claimed that under these circumstances, he could not accept Malta’s foremost national honour, the Gieh ir-Repubblika, from Fenech Adami.
He said that he had already “shown to everyone that President Fenech Adami broke his oath to be loyal to the Republic of Malta and its Constitution. And that is why I have to insist with this honourable Court that I will not accept this medal, and until the circumstances in which I would have to accept it do not change, meaning that I would be able to accept it with a clear conscience, and until such the medal has to remain under the custody of the Armed Forces of Malta.”
Mintoff’s bid to file a case against the Water Services Corporation started after his supply was cut due to outstanding bills, allegedly seven years of unpaid bills, forcing him to get his water from a neighbour.
His lengthy testimony has so far documented the history of the development of water and electricity infrastructure in the environs of Xintill Street, where he lives. Mintoff said the infrastructure of the utilities took long to be erected. He claimed the development of the surrounding area gave way to more construction under the aegis of the Nationalist government.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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