Dr Gatt’s claims about a possible breach of confidentiality were already made on Monday evening when, following a press conference he gave on the Brindisi Freeport, Labour leader Alfred Sant, in comments made on Super One, revealed sensitive information that probably came from within the bank.
In his letter to the BOV chief executive officer, Dr Gatt wrote that the media have reported Dr Sant as alleging that last August Freeport Terminal (Malta) plc acquired the shares of Brindisi Terminal Italia spa for the sum of Lm4 million.
“While this is a complete fabrication (the said shares having been bought in February 2004 for the sum of circa Lm150,000), in August 2004 Bank of Valletta did in fact grant a facility of EURO 10 million (roughly equivalent to Lm4 million) to MIMCOL for the purpose of re-financing the loan portfolio of the Brindisi Terminal.”
Dr Gatt wrote that he believes there is a “strong connection between what the Leader of the Opposition has alleged publicly and the loan itself. It cannot be coincidental that the Leader of the Opposition mentions the correct month and roughly the same amount involved. The fact that Super One TV yesterday explicitly mentioned Bank of Valletta when introducing the Leader of the Opposition’s allegations is also unlikely to be coincidental.”
Dr Gatt added that it was not the first time that commercial information from BOV was used for political purposes – in 2002 a document related to government loans was tabled in Parliament in breach of standing banking confidentiality rules.
“In the present case, it is a fact that it is not only Bank of Valletta staff that was privy to the information regarding the loan. Nevertheless the wording of the reports of the Leader of the Opposition’s statements makes it impossible to discount the probability that the source of the information was from within the bank itself.”
If this is confirmed, “then we are faced with a serious breach of bank secrecy regulations. In view of the seriousness of the matter I believe that the bank should launch an internal investigation into the matter.”
Bank of Valletta also released a short statement yesterday and said that on Monday, Dr Gatt did not request an internal investigation but merely voiced his belief that the bank should launch an internal investigation.
Secondly, read the statement, it has yet to be established whether the relative information originated from the bank or not. “In this respect, it must be stressed that all bank officials are bound by their duty of professional secrecy and do not divulge confidential information except as may be allowed by law,” continued the statement.
It said the bank always took a serious view of any such allegations, whether made in the media or elsewhere, and was doing likewise in this case.