People will suffer if something goes wrong with Air Malta or Bank of Valletta, PN MP Antoine Borg said in Parliament, speaking about unsecured loans during his adjournment speech
He mentioned the story in the Malta Independent last Sunday which read; "In a highly sensitive state of affairs currently being dealt with under a shroud of secrecy by Bank of Valletta's top brass, the ECB's bureaucrats on the Joint Supervisory Team with members from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) have sounded alarm bells on what they deem constitutes unorthodox transactions by the bank to help Air Malta".
The European Central Bank (ECB) has asked Bank of Valletta's top officials to explain how millions of euros in unsecured loans were issued to Air Malta to make up for the airline's discrepancy in its fuel-hedging agreements over the past yearl.
As such, Antoine Agius said that if one has an unsecured loan, the bank itself could also suffer if the company defaults. In both cases, if either company goes into trouble, the Maltese people would be affected.
He mentioned that in cases like BOV, the shareholders are workers etc, and the elderly hold their saving within the bank. "We want success for the bank and the airline however we cannot hold back from asking how Air Malta ended up here, considering previous officials had said that the Air Malta restructuring was 'on track'."
"If it was on track, what when wrong, how did it go wrong, what are the commitments Airmalta had to enter in order for the loans to be given?"
If something goes wrong, the country will suffer, he stated.
"Why is government hiding from the questions? At least government should tell the Opposition. He stressed that the Opposition is holding back due to the sensitivity, however "government should keep the opposition involved at least to ease the minds of the people that good decisions are being taken".
Turning to Tourism he said that the success being seen now is thanks to the PN. He said that MTA resources could be better used. He mentioned that sales calls (knocking on doors to urge people to travel to Malta as he put it) have reduced, asking whether these funds are being used to promote people instead.