There is a very good reason why the disgraced Chief Risk Officer of Bank of Valletta, Miguel Borg feels flustered and unjustly targeted over the crony €36 million loan to Steward Healthcare. Having been brought to the bank originally from the central bank, Miguel Borg had no prior banking experience in the private field. However, during Labour’s administration, Miguel Borg, who today lectures at the University of Malta, became increasingly important in the bank as he accumulated roles and promotions while also being appointed to various government bodies. Miguel Borg became the bank’s chief economist in 2013, and an executive director in 2017. In 2016 he was appointed director of the bank’s asset management division and in 2019 also director of the bank’s funds division. In 2021 he was made a director at the government-owned MIMCOL and in 2022 to Malita Investments Ltd.
Joseph Muscat and his criminal associates could only execute wide-scale corruption with the backing of Bank of Valletta, otherwise, it would have been incredibly difficult if not impossible to obtain the funding for the corrupt projects they implemented, namely and most importantly, Electrogas which was set-up only thanks to up to €432 million in guarantees by Bank of Valletta. So, it was crucial for Joseph Muscat to get the right people in Bank of Valletta and the Malta Financial Services Authority in order to process the significant volume of corruption.
Appointing cronies to run banks, regulators and financial institutions requires professionals in the banking and finance industry who can mobilise the right people for you. So, one of the finance professionals who Joseph Muscat used to take over the relevant banking and financial and regulatory institutions is John Cassar White, a long-time Labour Party ally who served in various roles under different governments. John Cassar White, basically enabled on a personal and direct level most of the corrupt and crony practices under his tenure as Chairman of the bank, all the while promoting and filling the bank’s top roles with loyal Labour Party acolytes.
That’s why Miguel Borg feels flustered and also why some of my detractors who send me anonymous hate mail are so angry at me for covering Bank of Valletta: because they are not alone and they are many and those whom I mention feel they have been pushed to these criminal situations by people like John Cassar White who specifically roped in Labour acolytes to serve and be loyal to Joseph Muscat’s interests and plans. They all knew what they were doing and they all knew that their bosses knew what they were doing, but they went along with it because “they were doing their job”. Now that the country is paying the consequences for their actions, suddenly, they feel pressure to take some responsibility, but they also feel abandoned and betrayed by the Party for whom they served. Yet, there should be no sympathy for their situation, because they were not stupid, and they knew that what they were doing was wrong.
BOV was responsible for various scandals under John Cassar White’s chairmanship, like when he gave a large payout to Labour Minister and ex-bank employee, Michael Falzon, or when the bank had even allowed generous overdraft facilities to Keith Schembri. The most notable case was the bank’s guarantee to Electrogas which Cassar White negotiated with Louis Grech, one of the main consultants and representatives of the kitchen cabinet, and still today consultant to the Prime Minister. During this time, Cassar White filled the bank’s leading positions with Labour acolytes promoting people like Horace Laudi, who today works for the Ministry of Education, or Simon Azzopardi who was promoted to the risk management division. Eventually, Cassar White resigned only to be replaced by the previous Labour Party auditor, Deo Scerri.
So far, these are well-known facts, but what hasn’t been known yet, is that Cassar White had approved the opening of a bank account by Pilatus Bank with Bank of Valletta and so far, we don’t know what transactions have been made through this account. Cassar White also opened the account against recommendations by senior bank officials in the risk department who specifically told him not to accede to the request by Pilatus Bank.
This story is important because Bank of Valletta played a pivotal role in the extended corruption of Joseph Muscat and his friends and the bank may very well hold extensive evidence of this corruption. In addition, John Casar White would be an ideal candidate for a public inquiry.
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