The Nationalist Party this morning said it welcomed the decision of the Court in favour of the shareholders of the National Bank and believes that, in the light of this decision, the matter should be closed once and for all.

The Nationalist Party had over the past years tried to find an out-of-court settlement to resolve this long-standing case in a just manner. A number of offers had been made including one in the last legislature which had proposed a compensation of around €25 million. Regrettably, however, no agreement on an out-of-court settlement was reached.

It is ironic that this landmark decision has been delivered when the Labour Party is in Government, given that this was an injustice created by the Mintoff Government in the seventies that had taken over the Bank from the shareholders depriving them of their rights and property, the PN said.

In reply, the Labour Party said that it is ironic that the Pn is asking for the case to be closed now after, in 25 years of Nationalist government, no solution had been found.