News • 14 September 2003

Mintoff mum as Pace confirms KMB had asked him to accept Dom Mintoff’s proposal

Acclaimed as the architect of modern Malta, but perceived by many as being Malta’s unforgiving autocrat, Dom Mintoff has not reacted to the story that his cronies had urged Cecil Pace to transfer part of the BICAL bank to nominee companies. The MaltaToday report raises the question that Dom Mintoff, then socialist Prime Minister of Malta, had effectively coerced Cecil Pace to pass on his crown jewel in return for some tolerance.
Cecil Pace, who was promised lucrative contracts by Mintoff, spent 14 years of his life behind bars. Pace was also offered the post of deputy leader of the Labour party, but declined. His incarceration is the longest ever for someone convicted of fraud and exceeds the time spent by some of Malta’s most notorious murderers.

Mintoff, the man who will be remembered for dividing a people with his abrasive high-handed tactics and his dislike for the upper and middle classes, has chosen to publicly ignore the MaltaToday story. On the other hand his ‘once upon a time’ acolyte and chosen replacement, the hard line socialist and eurosceptic Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici has returned to this newspaper with a riposte (see letter on page 7), calling on the editor of this newspaper to apologise for the contents of MaltaToday’s article of last week.
In a swift response to Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Cecil Pace calmly replied: "I confirm what was reported. All that was reported was true, however instead of 6 January, 1972, the correct date should read 5 January. I was arrested on the 6 January."
Life after 6 January was the beginning of hell for the Pace family, their possessions confiscated, their businesses closed down and the police going as far as to even remove small change from Cecil Pace’s wife’s purse.
Cecil Pace confirms that Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had insisted with him on more than one occasion to accept the proposal made to him by Mintoff.
On the 5 January, 1972 in the presence of George Sammut who was later to be appointed Judge, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici called on Cecil Pace: "Accept Mintoff’s proposal."
(Accetta il-proposta li ghamillek Mintoff).

Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici asked Cecil Pace for a hard chair. He refused to sit on a cushioned chair.
Cecil Pace asked whether he suffered from haemorrhoids, KMB retorted that comfort was for capitalists.
When Cecil Pace refused to comply with Mintoff’s request, KMB told him in Pace’s sitting room, "This is the beginning of the end." (Dan il-bidu tat-tmiem).
George Schembri, who accompanied KMB, implored Cecil Pace to accept.
"Accept, because they have every intention of going ahead."
(Accettaha, ghax bi hsiebhom jibqghu ghaddejjin.")
Talking to MaltaToday, Cecil Pace said Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici should be the one to apologise for denying the depositors the security of mind that their money was not lost forever.
"The fat lie is his, and no one else’s," commented Cecil Pace.
The Pace family has always argued that their business empire had enough assets to pay up the account holders.
Last week, MaltaToday revealed how a number of Labour personalities, including the late Anton Buttigieg a Labour minister and Francis Dalli a Labour candidate (inadvertently confused with John Dalli last week) had passed on the Mintoff proposal to Cecil Pace, together with a senior GWU official.
Yet, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s central role was not limited to reminding Cecil Pace of Mintoff’s proposal, it went further than that. As controller of the Cecil Pace business empire he was responsible for the virtual usurpation of most of the assets of the Pace family in the most extraordinary foolhardy of ways, to the extent that the controller gave the impression that there was not enough money to pay for the last salary of the BICAL employees.
In the coming weeks MaltaToday will reveal the companies that were broken up and given away to vultures who made a fortune with little or no investment on their part.
One of the more remarkable of cases was unearthed by the MaltaToday team, notably the decision by KMB to do away with the Comino Hotel, and to add insult to injury he paid the original millionaire owner John Gaul Lm20,000 to cover any extraordinary expenses.
The Comino Hotel was one of Cecil Pace’s crown jewels. In the late sixties he acquired the property from a French man, a certain Valliere who was married to one of John Gaul’s ex-wives. Gaul had owned Comino Hotel and had given his ex-wife the hotel as part of their divorce settlement.
Ironically, Valliere’s lawyer was KMB himself and when the French man decided to sell, his buyer was Cecil Pace. The Pace family spent over Lm300,000 refurbishing the hotel. An expense that the hotel has not seen since those days.
This was no mean feat considering that the Pace family could provide services from either its Jablo or furniture factories or if the need arose its cattle farm of a 100 cows or its chicken farms.
With the arrest of Cecil Pace and the removal of the BICAL licence, KMB decided it would be appropriate to return the hotel to John Gaul so as to avoid having to pay the Lm12,000 annual rent to the British millionaire. A bizarre consideration when one recalls that the hotel was worth over a million liri then.
Yet, this was truly the beginning of the end for the extensive assets owned by the Pace family, which were ably decimated by the naïve actions of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici. But nothing would match the clean sweep of controller Emanuel Bonello who worked closely with his own firm Grant Thornton run by none other than his son Martin Bonello Cole. Bonello would mastermind the virtual decimation of the Pace empire, amassing a fortune in fees far exceeding the money that was paid to account holders.
If you have a story to recount related to the BICAL scandal please contact us on 21 382 741 extension 147 or send us an email on:
maltatoday@maltamag.com