Ex-Bical president testifies in libel case

The former president of the Bank of Industry, Commerce & Agriculture Limited - Bical, Cecil Pace, yesterday took the witness stand in a libel case filed by former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff against the editor of Maltatoday over a series of articles about the closing down of the bank in 1972.

In a lengthy testimony, characterised by sharp-edged comments and warnings by the magistrate for both parties to remain composed, Pace said that what appeared in Maltatoday was a faithful report of what he told Balzan.

At yesterday's sitting, Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, for Mintoff, explained that his client felt libelled by comments published in Maltatoday stating that Pace insisted "that he was caught in a personal vendetta, a web of deceit and Mintoff's nationalisation frenzy".

Pace confirmed the authenticity of the article and explained that he felt there was a "personal vendetta" because he refused to sign a document.

He clarified that some time before he was arrested he had been approached by Dr Mifsud Bonnici and by Dr George Schembri. They asked him to sign a document to transfer a number of shares to nominees.

They told him that if he signed the paper nothing would happen to him and when he refused to sign, Dr Schembri told him that if he did not sign there would be serious consequences. Dr Mifsud Bonnici then told him he would be arrested.

Pace explained that when he spoke to Balzan he (Pace) mentioned Mintoff because Dr Mifsud Bonnici and Dr Schembri had been sent by him.

On November 25, 1972, in the evening he received a phone call asking him to go to the Palace in Valletta. There he spoke to a Mr Stivala, the secretary to the Finance Minister, who told him that as they were speaking his companies were being transferred to the government. Until November 25 his business went on as usual.

Pace explained that on November 26, 1972, a certain George Sammut, who was the director of one of Pace's companies, approached him together with a union representative.

Sammut told him that he should sign the document. He said he knew that Sammut had affiliations with the Labour Party and explained that he had nothing against the party as he considered himself to be a socialist in that anyone deserved a chance to move up the ladder.

He explained that he was forced to accept that a controller be nominated if he wanted his business to go on functioning. His business consisted of about 50 companies in which he employed about 3,000 people.

Pace emphasised that whenever Bical loaned money to one of his companies the transition was always authorised by the Central Bank. Bical had loaned some Lm1,300,000 to his companies.

He said he felt coerced to let go of the bank as he was told that if he did not sign the document he would get arrested.

Pace added that Dr Mifsud Bonnici went to visit him while he was in jail and asked him to sign a document allowing the sale of ships. Pace refused to sign when Dr Mifsud Bonnici did not tell him to whom and for how much the ships were to be sold.

The next day, while in court to attend a sitting, he got to know that the ships were to be sold to Sea Malta for Lm10,000 which was a ridiculous price since they were worth some Lm500,000.

When Bical closed down there was to be some Lm360,000 in the account it had with a foreign bank but in the last few months of 1972 he realised that the money in the bank was about Lm360.

He explained that a colleague, Lawrence Cachia Zammit, who was one of the joint managers at Bical, had withdrawn the money that went to the setting up of a printing press for the Nationalist Party. Pace said Cachia Zammit had done it in good faith because he knew there was to be an inheritance from Count Bernard Manduca.

The case continues.