Fact and fiction

The Brindisi story has once again exposed the way Alfred Sant works - how his allegations of wrongdoing are a piece of fiction built on misinterpretation of a vague knowledge of the facts.

The facts. The facts, as we now know them, are that under Sant's premiership, Malta Freeport sought a partnership with a container terminal that has a direct road and railway connections with mainland Europe.

In August 1998, Sant's Industry Ministry, John Attard Montalto, signed an agreement with Brindisi mayor Antonio Papalini whereby both sides had to seek ways how Malta Freeport would be using the Brindisi port facilities for containers coming from Malta with a destination in the north of Italy. The plan materialised in 2000 (by which time Sant was back leading the Opposition) when Malta Freeport bought a 40% share in Brindisi Terminal.

The Brindisi terminal operation, however, soon turned out to be a stillborn enterprise after plans for a quay to be constructed by the Brindisi Port Authority were abandoned. The other major shareholder, the Italian company that owned 60% of the shares in Brindisi terminal, went bankrupt and a liquidator was appointed.

In these circumstances, in order to protect its interest, Malta Freeport agreed to buy the rest of the shares in Brindisi Terminal at 10% of their nominal value, i.e. 10% of €3.5 million, equivalent to some Lm150,000. Malta Freeport is now in a position to sell a Brindisi terminal as a going concern. Even though it is doing badly, this is much better than the situation had the company been declared bankrupt in the wake of the bankruptcy of its major shareholders.

Meanwhile in a financial operation that had nothing to do with the recent purchase of the Brindisi Terminal shares, MIMCOL (not the Maltese Government) obtained a loan of Lm4 million from Bank of Valletta on behalf of Malta Freeport to replace an existing loan that it had with Italian banks.

The fiction. Starting in its October 10 issue, the MLP Sunday KullHadd launched a series of attacks on what is described as Government's Brindisi tangled web saga (Il-Gvern f'kobba mhabbla fi Brindisi) in which bribery (tixhm u tangenti) was supposed to figure prominently.

KullHadd kept going at it for four successive weeks, at one particular point aided by the GWU daily, l-Orizzont, which, in its October 25 issue, carried a front-page story and a 'report and analysis' written by MLP candidate Joe Sammut who alleged that the Maltese government had increased its investment in a doomed enterprise as a result of the amateurish way that it carries its business.

Alfred Sant then took over the battle cry and alleged that Malta Freeport had invested a further Lm4 million in a bankrupt company (as reported by Maltastar.com and Super 1). When he was told that he was wrong and that the Malta Freeport accounts that had been laid on the Table of the House did not show this imaginary payment, he produced a document that proved nothing except that MIMCOL had guaranteed a Lm4 million loan given by Bank of Valletta to Malta Freeport!

Some facts were there alright, but Dr Sant managed to build a piece of fiction that had nothing to do with the truth. To do this, he misinterpreted the facts to suit his fiction! Apparently Dr Sant did this without realising that the implications of his misinterpretations were that he:

¤ completely forgot that he was once Prime Minister and that the Brindisi strategy was planned by his own administration, which also chose the Italian partners who eventually went bankrupt.

¤ is unable to read accounts in a coherent manner and thinks that a Government minister has no qualms in placing false accounts on the table of the House of Representatives.

¤ is unable to distinguish between the nominal value and the purchase price of a share.

¤ does not realise that companies are constantly restructuring their loans and moving them from one bank to another to save on interests.

This man who wants to become Prime Minister once again by making us forget that he already has been Prime Minister, albeit for a short spell, and by attempting to persuade the people to opt for him by making wild allegations of abuse, incompetence and irresponsibility on the part of the present administration.

Ironically, this strategy actually depends on the abuse, incompetence and irresponsibility of whoever pursues it!

Incidentally, Dr Sant's Brindisi howler has now given rise to an interesting twist of the plot - that whoever gave Sant the information on Brindisi deliberately misled him to put him in an embarrassingly sticky situation. If this theory were correct, then Sant is being tripped by his own acolytes!

I think this conspiracy theory is too far-fetched to be true. But it is interesting because it shows that people are always prepared to read more than there actually is behind anything that happens - which is why Alfred Sant keeps on concocting his cock and bull stories.

He is sure people will believe them. Unfortunately some people do.

micfal@maltanet.net