The Nationalist Party said today that its pressure on the government has led to the postponement of a meeting dealing with the transfer of public land to the Corinthia group, which the PN is saying “Minister Konrad Mizzi… negotiated badly”.

In a statement, the PN said that it is insisting that the land in question is passed on at the best value. Members of the National Audit Office have been informed that a meeting that was supposed to be held yesterday has now been postponed to 4 February.

The Opposition has declared that it will be voting against the deal, and wanted a parliamentary plenary session to be held for the people to get to know more on how Minister Mizzi negotiated this deal against the interests of the Maltese public.

The PN said that the government wanted to pass the deal through Parliament very quickly “in an arrogant way and without the issuing of a call for tenders”. The deal reached by the government envisages the transfer of prime public land for speculation. PN leader Adrian Delia insisted that the parliamentary debate is postponed and the PN’s parliamentary group had met to discuss the issue.

The government is transferring this land at a much lower price than its value. Land that is estimated to cost €800 million is being sold at €51 million only, the PN said. Minister Konrad Mizzi has once again negotiated badly.

It is not acceptable for the PN that public land to be used for touristic purposes is not evaluated properly before it is passed on to the private sector, the party said.

 

Delia should sack Azzopardi - PL

Reacting, the PL said the PN was not credible when talking about public land. It said a court last week declared that Jason Azzopardi was responsible for the Löwenbräu scandal.

It also referred to the Fekruna case, with government officials declaring earlier this week that he had made pressure on the case.

The PL said Adrian Delia should find a different excuse to try to deviate attention away from the crisis he finds himself in. If he wants to be credible on this subject he should start by sacking Jason Azzopardi.

 

On the other hand, the government should keep consulting and rely on expert advice on the Corinthia case and other similar cases in the future.