A court decision to award National Bank shareholders €111 million in compensation has aggrieved both the government and several shareholders, with both sides planning to lodge an appeal, Times of Malta has learnt.
Government sources said the government plans to file an appeal in the coming days, ahead of an April 15 deadline.
Meanwhile, some shareholders who spoke to Times of Malta said that while the judgment is a step in the right direction, it is far from the justice they are seeking.
They say they are likely to also lodge an appeal and intend to eventually take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights for an impartial ruling.
“The general sentiment is that this is a good step, but we can’t stop here,” said one shareholder, describing the payout as “token compensation”.
“Our original claim was for the restitution of the bank. We feel we have a legal claim on the assets and liabilities that were taken from us,” they said.
“This is like having a goose stolen from you. The government is now giving us some of the eggs, but it’s keeping the goose.”
The two sides have been locked in a legal battle for decades following the Mintoff-led government’s expropriation of the National Bank in 1974.
We finally got a little bit of justice after 50 years. The great pity is that so many of the original shareholders are no longer here to see it happen
One shareholder described the battle for justice as “an important step in the protection of the rule of Malta”, saying it is crucial to “safeguard us from abusive politicians that use their associates to milk the country dry with impunity”.
Not all shareholders agree with the choice to take the case forward. One person who spoke to Times of Malta said he was “elated, to say the least” with the ruling, adding they hope it will mark the final chapter of the saga.
“We finally got a little bit of justice after 50 years. The great pity is that so many of the original shareholders are no longer here to see it happen.”
Some shareholders are also sceptical of the demand for the restitution of the bank, describing it as “a pie in the sky”.
“It could create another injustice, only this time with BOV shareholders instead.”
Other shareholders remain non-committal, saying they are still figuring out their next steps.
Jeremy Cassar Torregiani, great-grandson of the bank’s founder Antonio Cassar Torregiani, said that he and his lawyers were studying the judgement to understand why the remedy provided “does not align with what we understand to be required in terms of law”.
“Once that process has been concluded, the way forward will be determined.”
Government appeal shows ‘no compassion’
The government’s intention to appeal the ruling has not taken shareholders by surprise.
Meanwhile, the heirs of another of the bank’s shareholders described the government’s decision to appeal as “showing no compassion” towards the people who were wronged.
Shareholders said the saga has marked a scar in people’s lives, with mention of the topic forbidden at family gatherings to this day.
My father was in his 30s when he had everything stolen from him and now, turning 80, he finally has seen some kind of minimal justice, in comparison to what he was deprived of for all his life- heirs to shareholders
“My father was in his 30s when he had everything stolen from him and now, turning 80, he finally has seen some kind of minimal justice, in comparison to what he was deprived of for all his life.”
Some shareholders noted drily that the compensation awarded is less than a single year’s profit recorded by Bank of Valletta (“which is, basically, the stolen bank in question”), in a nod towards recent reports of BOV registering €250m in pre-tax profits in 2023.
When asked whether BOV was concerned about the court’s sentence having any repercussions on the bank, CEO Kenneth Farrugia brushed off concerns, telling Times of Malta that “the case does not concern BOV and the bank was never a party to the litigation. The matter does not involve us.”
A case decades in the making
The forcible takeover began in December 1973, when the administration of the National Bank and the Tagliaferro Bank was “temporarily” taken over by an administrative council.
This lasted four months, until the assets and debts of the National Bank were transferred to Bank of Valletta.
Several shareholders refused to sign an agreement to transfer their shares to the government, with 82 of them going on to file two court cases over the matter in 1992.
The shareholders won the cases in 2014, with the courts finding that the takeover had violated their fundamental rights.
The courts have spent the past decade trying to establish the compensation to be awarded to the shareholders, who were claiming €325 million in damages.
On Tuesday, 50 years after the bank was taken over in March 1974, the courts finally settled on a fee, awarding shareholders €111m in compensation. But the saga is now set to drag on, as both sides plot their next steps.