Mintoff's water supply cut off after Lm870 bill goes unpaid

Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff yesterday said he was living on the goodwill of his neighbours after his water supply was cut off on Thursday because he had not paid his bill.

Neighbours have been supplying 88-year-old Mr Mintoff with water after he failed to find a drop when he opened the taps yesterday morning at his Tarxien home.

Staff from the Water Services Corporation on Thursday called twice at the former Prime Minister's home to cut off the water supply after serving him with a notice a few days earlier.

Mr Mintoff said, however, that he only became aware of the situation on Thursday as he had not seen the notice earlier: "When the chap helping me answered the door, he did not think the letter (from the corporation) was anything important, and he put it with my normal correspondence. Therefore, I did not realise what the problem was till yesterday (Thursday) morning".

Mr Mintoff said he then contacted his lawyer, Joe Buttigieg, and, until Thursday morning, he thought the situation had been resolved. However, upon finding himself in this predicament, he said: "I have asked my lawyer what we can do as I want to fight them legally now. I don't know whether this is a game or not".

Dr Buttigieg told The Times that Mr Mintoff had refused to pay an Lm873.73 bill because he feels he is owed money by the government.

He said Mr Mintoff believes he is owed money for the long-standing compensation case over his second home, L-Gharix in Delimara, and for repairs he was forced to carry out to the drainage system at his Tarxien home after it was damaged by public service workers. "Mr Mintoff says the amount he spent on those repairs outweighs the amount on the bill," he said.

Dr Buttigieg also said he had spoken to the lawyer, chairman and chief executive of the Water Services Corporation before Mr Mintoff's supply was cut off. "But while we were discussing the issue, it was decided by the authorities to take this action," he said.

However, Mr Mintoff described rumours of a commotion outside his home when the workmen arrived on Thursday as "rubbish".

"I have not been out of this house since Wednesday and the last time I left was to go swimming on Tuesday - I was in perfect health then even though it was raining. But since then I have not left the house... Not even when the Enemalta people came here was there any commotion."

The guard outside his house, Mr Mintoff said, had refused to let the workers in the first time they called but he did nothing to stop them entering on their second visit since they had authority to enter.

"Then, this morning (Friday), I knew it was all off as there was nothing when I turned on the tap," Mr Mintoff said.

He said that even his neighbours had not been aware of the situation until yesterday morning when his taps were dry and he was in need of water.

"I am living on their goodwill. I am not going to say who gave me the water as they will victimise them as well. And I stand by what I say. Some people call this a tantrum, I call it fighting.

"I don't know how long I can stay like this since it depends on the charity of my neighbours. It is not something very pleasant and it is my health that I worry about," Mr Mintoff said.

Efforts to contact the WSC chairman for a reaction proved fruitless.