Dr Sant was speaking on Spirtu Pront on Super One radio yesterday.

The Labour leader claimed that the Freeport had asked Bank of Valletta for a Lm4 million loan but the bank pointed at the Freeport’s precarious financial situation. Thus government had intervened through Mimcol which demanded the bank loan with the government committing itself to paying back the capital and interest by the end of this year.

Thus the people of Malta, Dr Sant said, who were saddled with the Lm9 million to pay for Dar Malta in Brussels, had also been saddled with a further Lm4 million to pay for an Italian container port. At the same time that it was deciding to fork out these sums, government stopped the Malta-Gozo helicopter service because it was losing money and is refusing to invest in Sea Malta, he said.

Dr Sant criticised the way Investment Minister Austin Gatt spoke of the bank at a delicate time when the bank is being privatised. Dr Gatt spoke of the bank as if it was at his beck and call, said Dr Sant.

Dr Sant linked this with the resignation of Joseph F.X. Zahra and said that although the resignation letter dates back to 28 October, some questions are now being asked. In his letter of resignation Mr Zahra said he was resigning for personal reasons but with “great pain”.

Dr Sant also spoke about the privatisation of the Malta Freeport. One must compare the revenue of the Freeport with the huge interest that government must pay for the loan to build the quays. One will then find out that Malta did not do so well after all out of the venture, Dr Sant said.

In reply, a government statement pointed out that Dr Sant had originally claimed government had bought the shares in the Brindisi Terminal for Lm4 million in August. Now he is admitting that the shares cost Lm150,000 and were purchased in February. Besides, the loan from Bank of Valletta is the refinancing of a loan from an Italian bank so that the paying back of the loan is easier on Malta Freeport.