The Nationalist Party today raised concerns about the manner in which Bank of Valletta is being led by its chairman, John Cassar White.

Spokesperson for financial services Kristy Debono said BOV is being turned into a “Labour club,” and reminded that the government is only a minority shareholder in the bank.

She said the board that gave parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon his quarter million golden handshake is made up of people with links to the PL, such as their auditor Deo Scerri and Joe Zrinzo, the father of the PL’s former president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi.

PN MP Ryan Callus said Dr Falzon got a far better deal than the bank’s shareholders, as his golden handshake was tax free while shareholders are taxed 35 per cent on their dividends.

Mr Callus said that had Dr Falzon continued working for the bank, he would be paying taxes on his income, when instead he received a tax-free lump sum in what he himself admits was an “ad-hoc” agreement.

He is also receiving his pay as a parliamentary secretary over and above this.

Asked about the information tabled in Parliament by Dr Falzon about other people who have benefitted from early retirement, Mr Callus referred to a story published by The Malta Independent reporting that the information given was not in the public domain.

Mr Callus said Parliament was told the information in question was public, and questioned whether BOV is investigating what appears to be a leak.

In reply, the parliamentary secretary for competitiveness and economic growth, Jose Herrera, condemned the partisan attacks on financial institutions which, he said, were aimed at weakening them.

This attitude goes against the politics of consensus that the country historically enjoyed, he said in a statement.

With regard to Bank of Valletta, what the PN was doing was throw unsubstantiated allegations intended to give a bad impression of a bank that passed so many stress tests by the European Union.

The government also failed to understand the PN’s attack on bank chairman John Cassar White, a person of integrity who is respected as one of the best professionals in the sector.