The Nationalist Party today wrote to the Auditor General asking him to investigate the Gaffarena expropriation scandal, including whether criminal offences were committed by those who provided him with inside information.
Addressing a press conference in front of the Old Mint Street building in Valletta, Justice Shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has created the ‘New Mint Street,’ out of which Mr Gaffarena made bucketloads of money.
The Times this week revealed how the government had paid €1.65 million for half the ownership of a property in Old Mint Street. Mr Gaffarena, whose family was involved in the controversial Qormi petrol station, bought a quarter of the property for €23,294 in 2007. This part of the building was expropriated in January 2015 and Mr Gaffarena was compensated with €822,500 in land and cash. In February he bought another quarter of the building for €139,762. The government expropriated it for the same amount barely two months later. The land given to Mark Gaffarena is at Manuel Dimech Street, Sliema; Ta' Kandja, White Rocks, Zebbug and Handaq.
The newspaper today reported that the land is worth at least double the government estimates. This was a scandal in itself, Dr Azzopardi said. The real value of the package given to Mr Gaffarena is close to €3.3 million.
The PN shadow minister said the properties given to Mr Gaffarena, including one in Manuel Dimech Street, Sliema and another at White Rocks, were placed in strategic positions and were chosen by Mr Gaffarena himself. The Sliema property will become lease free in June 2016.
He also asked why the government had chosen to expropriate a building bit by bit; something which he said has never been done before. Another point of contempt was that the government had considered the building Valletta property as a “building site” when estimating its value. Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon had later described the building as a historically important palazzo. “So why then did they consider it as a building site, which has a higher value?”
Dr Azzopardi said this was another case of squandering of public funds by the government. The Opposition has written an 18-point letter to the Auditor General asking him to investigate the matter. “We have asked him to investigate whether there was also a breach of criminal laws, including the passing of information by a public officer to a third party. Mr Gaffarena clearly had inside information. Either that or he can see the future.”
The Shadow Minister for the Energy, the Environment and Transport, Marthese Portelli, said PL Deputy Leader Toni Abela sanctioned what is happening today some weeks ago, when he said that he was prepared to act secretly to make people rich. “This is typical Labour Party attitude, acting secretly to help individuals become millionaires,” she said.
Dr Portelli said Mr Gaffarena was given 48,000 square meters in undeveloped lands, including 5,400 square metres at White Rocks, an area earmarked by the government for the development of hotels. The lands given to him amount to half the size of land the government intends to destroy at Zonqor Point.
PN MP Ryan Callus asked if the Building Industry Consultative Council (BICC) needed such a large property in Valletta. It is clear, he said, that the Old Mint Street transaction was not a legitimate one. “Who took the decision to expropriate this property for so much money when the BICC could have made use of a much smaller property?”
Mr Callus said PL MP Charles Buhagiar had a triple conflict of interest: he is a government MP , the chairman of the BICC and, until some time ago, Mr Gaffarena’s architect. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat also had to shoulder responsibility, he said, both as a Prime Minister and as the minister responsible for the Lands Department.