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Labour MP says BOV withdrawing ad budgets in press gag
Speaking in Parliament, Labour MP Evarist Bartolo said that Bank of Valletta had reportedly threatened newspapers to withdraw its adverts over press coverage.
23 February 2012, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
2 min read
Labour MP Evarist Bartolo
Labour MP Evarist Bartolo yesterday evening dedicated part of his speech in parliament to decry an attempt by Bank of Valletta to withdraw advertising budgets in the press, in the midst of attention on the La Valette property fund which was the subject of investigations by the financial regulator.
Towards the end of yesterday evening's parliamentary session, Bartolo noted that he had recently met persons who lost their savings in the Bank of Valletta's La Valette Funds Sicav, and that he was informed the bank had threatened to withdraw adverts on a number of newspapers.
"If this is true it is unacceptable. I have been informed that Bank of Valletta has threatened a number of newspapers with the withdrawal of its adverts and has already stopped one payment...
"Such behaviour is unacceptable even if Bank of Valletta is a private enterprise, but it is even worse because the government is the majority shareholder of the bank. The bank cannot threaten newspapers just because they reported what happened with the La Vallette property fund."
The La Valette Multi Manager Property Fund went belly up after investing monies in underlying property funds that breached the fund's investment restrictions.
In June 2011, the bank offered investors a conditional compensation offer of 75c per share after the La Valette fund was found to have lost almost €50 million in value. After filing various judicial protests against the bank in the name of the property fund investors, stockbroker Paul Bonello's accusations were later confirmed in the investigation by the Malta Financial Services Authority that fined BOV and its investment arm Valletta Fund Management €350,000 over a breach of investment services rules.
The 30-day compensation offer was however conditional on investors dropping all legal claims they might have against the bank once the regulator issues its investigation report.
A total of 2,021 out of 2,075 investors - 97.4% - accepted the offer, with BOV issuing payments of €44.1 million for 60.3 million shares held in the fund.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
Joseph Sant •
Dear FD - I don't know how many shares you own in BOV. I too am a very small shareholder but I can tell you that what I lost in the Property Fund has totally wiped out what I ever made in dividends. If there really was foul play or negligence then heads should roll and the Bank should adequately compensate the small investors who were not made aware of the risk involved. After all this investment was underwritten by insurers. Even if however I were never paid a penny in compensation I would still condemn using a position of power to gag the press if what the press is bringing to the public's attention are true facts. I do wish to have my money back but I would never sell my soul and principles for anything.
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FD - you are way off the mark. As a shareholder I want to know the truth of how my investment is doing. Guess what? I can only learn this through the media. If the bank is really trying to hold the media to ransom, then problems may be bigger than we imagine.
By you same bent reasoning the world would still have a Worldcom, Lehman Bros and Bernie Madoff amongst others.
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Hey thats better than the National Bank of Malta shareholders, some people are still waiting for their compensation 39 years on.
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As a shareholder of BOV , I approve that the bank would not advertise on media which gives the bank bad publicity.
Who in his right senses would advertise on media where his company is shown in a bad light?
That would be money down the drain.
He who pays the fiddler calls the tune.
BOV is not a charitable institution.
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IL BOV jippretendi li l investituri jalqu halqom u jinsew din is saga. In nies tilfu flushom u ghal hekk ghandhom dritt jiggieldu ghal interessi taghhom. Sewwa ghamel Mr. Bartolo li qajjem dan fil Parlament u nippretendi li meta l Labour ikun fil gvern jiftah inkjesta serja. Fil Bank hemm hafna hard selling tatics, u jekk skrivan ma jilhaqx it targets li iehu promotion u lanqas zieda fil paga. Anzi jigi imwarrab. Mhux il haddiema iz zaghar ghandhom jaqilawha fuq rashom imma dak il kbarat li jivvintaw it targets. Is sabieha hi li persuni li ghamlu din il froga hadu promotion!!!!!!!!!!!!
