The man who has asked the Permanent Commission Against Corruption to investigate the granting of a development permit on a property owned by Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg has denied Dr Borg’s allegation that he has blocked access to public property, stating that his family has owned the land for countless generations.
Last year, Dr Borg was granted a permit to demolish two farmhouses in the Santa Katerina hamlet in the outskirts of Rabat, and build two sizeable apartments in their place. An application to demolish one of the farmhouses and convert it into a terraced house had been refused by MEPA in 2012, two years before Dr Borg purchased the land and obtained a permit to redevelop it.
Both proposals would increase the built-up footprint, even though this is prohibited by the North West Local Plan governing the area, but the issue was not brought up when Dr Borg’s application was assessed.
Based on his own investigations, Mr Ciantar argued that the decision to issue a development permit was the result of “abuse of entrusted power for private gain” and referred the case to the PCAC, the Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner for Environment and Planning in the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, and the Speaker of the House of the Representatives.
Dr Borg denied any wrongdoing when he replied to articles which appeared on The Malta Independent and The Malta Independent on Sunday, although he stressed that he had no issue with investigations being held.
But he also said that Mr Ciantar was the same person who had tried to prevent the public from accessing the centuries-old complex of is-Simblija in the outskirts of Rabat, on the border with Dingli. The former Dingli mayor said that at the time, he had worked with a number of NGOs to ensure that the site remained accessible.
This claim led Mr Ciantar to defend his position, in which he denied that he is in any way unlawfully restricting public access.
“Is-Simblija is a rural farm and agricultural property where my family and ancestors have held legal title of private possession spanning at least over the last five centuries (similar to many other farming families), giving the land its name,” Mr Ciantar said.
The issue had surfaced in an article which was published in The Times in 2012, which had prompted Mr Ciantar to write a right of reply response on behalf of his family.
That article, Mr Ciantar said, included similar allegations and references to Dr Borg.
“Based on legal advice I had obtained at the time, I had pointed out that any claim that I or my family block, or deny access to, the said property is not only untrue and legally unsound but also defamatory because my family holds legal title on the said property, as also confirmed at the time by the court,” he maintained.
Mr Ciantar said that he reserved all legal rights as he noted that as a lawyer, Dr Borg should be aware of the implications of publishing defamatory material.