The article “BICAL owner lays claim to Excelsior Shares”, by Matthew Vella (1 August 2007) has been brought to my attention.
Mr Editor, let us be clear about one key fact. Mr Cecil Pace has never owned the Excelsior Hotel. He has never been the majority shareholder of the company that owned the Excelsior Hotel. On the other hand, my family is the majority shareholder in Malta and Europe Hotels Ltd.
Now, kindly allow me to clarify the matter briefly.
My son and I are the registered owners of the majority shareholding in the company that owned the Excelsior Hotel, acknowledged as legitimate owners by all the authorities established by law for that purpose.
When in 1986/87 Cecil Pace first advanced his claim to be registered as shareholder instead of the Martones, the Minister of Finance appointed a legal expert to advice him on the conflicting claims.
The expert, in a long, detailed and elaborate report, advised the Minister that Cecil Pace’s claim to the shares was based on forged documents, that he had no legal claim to those shares and that the matter should be referred to the Attorney General for criminal proceedings against Pace.
In 1989, Cecil Pace instituted legal proceedings against the then-Controller of Malta and Europe Hotels Ltd. His aim was to obtain from the Court a declaration that the shares registered in the Martones’ name actually belonged to him and not to my son and myself.
Very conveniently he forgot to include the Martones as defendants in that case. I only got to know of Pace’s lawsuit by mere coincidence, as the proceedings to divest me of my shares, registered in my name, had deliberately never been served on me. Pure Pace perversion of the law.
When I saw that the case regarding my own shares was being conducted behind my back, I took the initiative to institute fresh court proceedings against Pace, for the court to declare that Pace’s claim was unfounded in fact and in law. The Civil Court, ruled in my favour and declared Pace’s claim to my shares to be untenable.
On February 25, 2002, on appeal, the Court confirmed that the shares were rightly registered in my name, and that Pace’s preposterous claims were devoid of any foundation.
Following this setback, Pace instituted new proceedings for rehearing the case.
He again applied, for a rehearing of a case already decided against him on two occasions. This time he brought as “fresh evidence” the affidavits of Nada delle Piane and Alessandro Ghidoli. The Court of Appeal found these so-called affidavits (shown to your correspondent) totally worthless and refused Pace’s application for a rehearing.
The Court ruling of April 22, 2004, found in my favour, dismissed Pace’s claim with costs. He lost a Lm30,000 bail the Judge had requested from Pace for the rehearing of the case. Kindly note: third judgment in my favour against Pace.
I have instituted criminal proceedings in Italy against Delle Piane (who in the meantime has passed away) and Ghidoli for false testimony, (in complicity with Cecil Pace) in fabricating the affidavits.
In my case, the Maltese Court of Appeal has already discarded the two so-called affidavits as worthless.
When Pace attempted to institute criminal proceedings against me alleging that the contract of transfer of the shares in my favour had been tampered with, the criminal court acquitted me without reservations, and Pace’s malicious report rebounded to his face. Notwithstanding the sorry figure he invariably cuts, you have to hand it to him he never gives up.
Cecil Pace’s allegations that I base my claims to the shares on forged documents, deserve serious consideration.
A trial by jury convicted Cecil Pace to over 10 years’ jail finding him guilty of every known crime against public trust – including fraud, forgery and misappropriation.
Seeing that his own claim to the shares has been declared to be the fruit of forgery, it is hilarious to witness him accusing others of a criminal offence of which he has himself been convicted to a long period of reflection in the Corradino Correctional Facility.

Michele Martone
St Julians

Speculation about the election date is now at its best. Various people are quoting different dates, for different reasons. I am not a fortune-teller so I cannot conjecture about the election date; after all it’s up to our Prime Minister and his Girgenti strategists to decide when it’s best for the Nationalist Party to go to the people.
On the other hand I feel very comfortable remarking on when it is best for the country to call an election. I would only give three examples, which helped me formulate my opinion.
(1) With a good number of government ministers getting involved in scandals, public office abuse or breaching the code of ethics, I think it is high time for the prime minister to go to the people.
(2) For the past years the burden on Maltese citizens increased drastically, especially with the introduction of the surcharge on electricity bills.
(3) Under this administration another sector that was really affected negatively is the environment. Shameful decisions like the extension of the development zones and the development permission at Ramla l-Hamra were the tip of the iceberg. Both were clear examples of an administration which says that it has the environment at heart, but when it comes to decisions it acts otherwise.
It is clear that to all these difficulties there are answers. Answers from a very pro-active opposition party, led by a very energetic team. The earlier that Alfred Sant’s proposal to eliminate prescription on corruption is introduced, the better. The earlier the Labour proposal to cut the surcharge by half is applied, the better. The earlier there is a government which is ready to abolish the Ramla l-Hamra development permission, the better.
Which leads me to say that the earlier the election… the better.

Charmaine Calleja
Rabat

Whether it is because there was nothing else to write about, or because it is sometimes trendy to mention Lija, or because you really care about what you write about, I will still congratulate your wise decision to write about the Lija fireworks. Besides being artistic they most certainly are also a nuisance, a danger and a pain; but they are merely a chapter in a huge tome speaking of many more serious environmental degradation issues that have hit these localities in these last ten to twenty years or so.
I find it surprising that you become so hot under the collar about people’s suffering from those awful petards (that happen but once a year – though the danger is constant, as you point out), but then do not lash out at the daily assault on people’s health and the environmental decay caused by industries situated all the way from Lija to Naxxar!
Take Blokrete for instance. The filth, dust and noise that it has dished out to Lija residents, for decades now, is nothing short of a scandal and a crime. Blokrete serves us with filth and noise every day, and its owners (who own also the Lija local pharmacy) sell us and our children the medicine and the inhalers for the asthma and skin conditions aggravated by their factory!
What you see on the trees in the valley where Blokrete operates from, is what there obviously is in people’s lungs in Lija, Iklin and possibly Naxxar also. How can people be so blind! And this is not to say anything about the ear-splitting drone that emanates every blessed morning towards what once-upon-a-time used to be called the most peaceful village in Malta (when your ancestor was kappillan or whatever).
The right place for factories is an industrial estate and these dust spewing, noisy enterprises can well be re-located in some disused quarry not in the otherwise green centre where Lija, Birkirkara, Iklin and Naxxar happen to converge.
My challenge to you is this: does your investigative journalism have the balls to unravel the issues of why such criminal activities as these go on blatantly in-your-face? Can you expose what you discover?  If yes, then why do you waste your ink on petards, the small picture, when there is the larger story to be told? If no, then thanks for telling at least that part of the story which unfortunately we keep hearing year-in year-out come August when news becomes dry.

Dr Michael Zammit
Lija

Since time immemorial the medical professionals in Malta have assumed an exaggerated frame of mind; a sort of “see me and touch me not” mentality. 
As a foreign graduate and duly registered in Malta, I find it hard to fathom the voters who continue to elect the same parties (PN and MLP) on this issue. Obviously the government is as much to blame with its ‘pennywise and Lm-fool mentality’.
It is time to pay a decent rate of salary, standard for all doctors, including new graduates. It is time to live and not to exist.

J Mifsud-Navarro, MD

I refer to  Edward Fenech’s comments about the pre-budget document. I find it very considerate and worked-up well. So hats off to Edward.
But I would be grateful if Edward give us a clear-cut definition of Alternattiva Demokratika’s view where the pensioners and the rise for the cost of living (COLA) are concerned.
Does AD believe that the 2008 budget will be more of the same regarding the increase of the cost of living for pensioners? Is it right that we still be getting two-thirds of the COLA, so no injustice will be done to those still in the workforce and who are still contributing to the nation’s coffer through income tax and national security?
Or is it about time that the concept is introduced whereby pensioners get the full value of COLA, as after all products for pensions do not increase by just  just two thirds, but by 100 per cent?
Hopefully the budget bonanza Fenech is predicting in the PN’s last budget before the general elections will give full consideration to this discrepancy.
Edward, I would be looking forward to a balanced and justified answer, and if I am wrong in my reasoning, do not hesistate to tell where and why.
 
Saviour Cachia,
Marsascala