A dynasty of PN defectors - Episode Three

Doing his "duties"

Moving on to the nineties, we come across a true blue (soon to be red) political buccaneer - Notary Sandro Schembri Adami. He started off in the early nineties as a staunch PN militant, publicly calling on the party "biex ikompli jtihom lill-Laburisti". But behind closed doors he was not trusted and despite his incessant grovelling was not allowed to contest on the PN ticket.

So the buccaneer switched to Labour and was elected twice, in 1992 and 1996. Prime Minister Alfred Sant immediately gave him the prestigious post of chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. He was also appointed as board director of the state-owned Libyan-Arab Maltese Holding Company. Then he fell out with Alfred Sant as Sant's government began its free fall.

So who is this Notary Sandro Schembri Adami? With the pompous disposition of a leading character in a Neopolitan makkjetta, he could frequently be observed holding court at Jimmy’s Restaurant in Valletta, usually with impersonations of Guido de Marco and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

He certainly was a very good impersonator of a notary. Convicted five times of defrauding unsuspecting clients of tens of thousands of Euros, Schembri Adami's con trick was to dupe them into giving him money to pay duties on their property transfers. He would then just pocket it instead of transferring it to government. He was also found guilty of repeatedly forging signatures on power of attorney documents.

In each of the five fraud cases he was handed down suspended sentences. After the fifth one last year Chief Justice Vincent de Gaetano said in his judgement that the guy should have been sent to prison.

Called a "bad apple" by Michel Dingli, the secretary of the Notarial Council, this PN defector lost his notarial license and was given a general interdiction. The court also ordered that his Sliema house be put up for sale by auction so he could pay for his crimes.

The last I heard was that he has turned into a militant religious happy clappy. Typical.

The story continues ...