Opposition accuses Bank of Valletta of becoming 'Labour party club'
MP Ryan Callus questions why Bank Of Valletta is paying Michael Falzon four years' paid leave, despite no longer working for the bank
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The Nationalist party has called on Bank of Valletta to explain why it granted planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon a one-off ‘golden handshake’.
Falzon, on accepting his Cabinet role in 2014, would receive €250,000 until 2018. Should he return to his BOV lawyer post before then, he would have to repay the sum on a pro rata basis.
Addressing a press conference outside the BOV chairman’s office at the House of Four Winds in Valletta, PN MP Kristy Debono accused BOV's administration for treating the bank “like a Labour party club”.
She pointed out that the terms of Falzon's golden handshake were decided by a board comprised of individuals close to the Labour party, including its auditor, Deo Scerri.
She warned that some of the bank’s decisions, such as Falzon’s ‘golden handshake’ and promotions dished out to people “close to the Labour Party” have raised questions over the leadership abilities of its chairman John Cassar White.
"The bank doesn't just belong to the government but to the other private shareholders as well," she said. "They too are questioning the government's decision."
MP Ryan Callus said that BOV should have given Falzon unpaid leave pending his Cabinet tenure.
"Shareholders shouldn't have to fork out Michael Falzon's salary when he's not even working. Decisions like these stink of partisan politics," he said.
"To add insult to injury, BOV shareholders pay 35% in taxes while Falzon doesn't pay a cent on his golden handshake. He is receiving four years' salary for doing nothing.”
In parliament, Michael Falzon admitted that his agreement with BOV was a one off and he would need to repay the money should he return to BOV before 2018.
"Is this why he is refusing to resign over the Gaffarena scandal? To avoid repaying the money?" Callus questioned.
Earlier this week, Falzon tabled in Parliament a list of other high-profile BOV employees who were granted earlier retirement schemes. He questioned Opposition leader Simon Busuttil whether the packages granted to the Fenech Adamis and Borg Costanzis on the list were acceptable “simply because they are Nationalists”.
However, Callus retorted that the other people on the list weren’t granted Falzon’s unique clause that allows him to return to his former post at the bank.
He also questioned whether Falzon was correct in saying that the list of BOV employees was in the public domain, referring to a Malta Independent report that the documents were taken from the bank’s internal network.
“If the story is true, then it must mean that Falzon still has access to sensitive bank files or that someone within the bank passed the information on to him,” Callus said, calling on BOV to investigate what could be a potential information leak.