In a hastily convened press conference this afternoon, Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon said that he will be filing a series of libel cases against certain media – which he did not mention by name – and a number of PN politicians over claims about him and Bank of Valletta.

Dr Falzon said that he had been putting up with a lot of allegations that had been made about his termination package, “but now, the line has been crossed”.

He rebutted claims made by PN MP Ryan Callus earlier in the day, who said that he (Falzon) had enjoyed a good pay for four years.

He read parts of the termination agreement which was signed with BOV and said that he has the option to return to work with the bank by no later than 30 June 2018. Should he return, he will need to refund the bank pro-rata of the termination benefits for the period that his employment had been terminated.

He said that if he had to reveal the number of scandals that took place under 25 years of PN administration, he would need to give a series of press conferences. “There were people who were given five years’ pay when they were terminated, but no one said a word, simply because they were PN supporters. Not only have they received that pay, but also top-up pensions which they were not entitled to,” he said.

Presenting part of his agreement, Dr Falzon insisted that the early retirement clause states ad hoc and therefore applies for all employees. The clause states that “the bank will, at its discretion, offer an ad hoc retirement package, with specific retirement benefits, to selected members of staff.”  Asked by the press how these ‘selected’ members are chosen, Dr Falzon laughed it off.

“I have no issue with the investigations that are being carried out, but isn’t it ironic that it was the Nationalist Party which failed to introduce the whistle-blower act, the party financing bill and the removal of prescription on acts of political corruption?” he said.

Dr Falzon said that another 140 BOV employees were offered an early retirement package, and challenged some of them to come forward.

On an additional note, Dr Falzon explained that he received questions from a journalist about BOV’s property in Valletta, known as House of the Four Winds. Anticipating a story, he said he needed to clarify that the government increased the rent by €4,000 each year and ordered that the agreement is revised every five years. In that way, the government took a premium of €4.47 million from the bank. “If there are some who want to attack me for gaining that amount for the taxpayer, then bring it on.”

In a statement, the PN said that Dr Falzon can’t ignore the facts revealed about his involvement in the Gaffarena scandal, including that he went abroad with the man ,met with him at Castille and signed two deals that made Mr Gaffarena a multi-millionaire overnight.