The Government is in the middle of another scandal involving its property. It has been reported that a ‘famous’ concrete magnate, by the surname of Gaffarena, made a hefty profit through land transaction. He bought a share of a property in Strada Zecca, exactly where the Order of Malta minted its money and this property was then expropriated by the Government. This story gives the impression of insider trading. 

Let’s call a spade a spade. This sort of insider trading has occurred in the past. And I am sure that it will continue in the future.  But what is the most worrying is the swiftness that this transaction was carried out by the Lands Department. Who is behind this deal?  I am sure that Mark Gaffarena is not alone. It is disturbing that citizens, who had their property requisitioned, have to wait years and years for compensation but then there are others who, immediately after buying shares of property, which are partly owned by the Government, get swift compensation. It is obvious that those involved in this transaction knew beforehand, that they could make a kill. In fact, once the share was bought, it was evaluated at a much, much higher amount than in fact is justifiable or equitable. This is not just immoral but tantamount to full-blown corruption.

These transactions are public as all Government’s dealing in property is published in the Government Gazette, which today is on-line.

Dr Jason Azzopardi did not mince words. He clearly indicated that the estimates are fraudulent. No names were mentioned, but estimates at the Lands Department are carried out by architects. So who is the architect or architects involved in this double game? Dr Azzopardi said that the land given to Gaffarena, as part compensation for the expropriated share that he had bought was worth at least double of the Government estimates. 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. 

For this reason, it is important that the public is informed about the name of the architect or architects involved in the evaluation of these properties.  It is clear now that the Government has something to hide since the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for the Lands Department went on the defensive, possibly because he was taken unawares and he is now in a pickle. Dr Michael Falzon’s replies left much to be desired. What I found interesting in the Government’s replies was that the architect who did the assessment was the same architect who under the previous administration carried out similar estimates. Moreover, the Government spoke in terms of one architect and not architects responsible.  Strange indeed! It seems that there was only one architect, working on such cases 

Incidentally, the architect in question does not appear to be a Government employee. In all probability, the fact that he/she was used by the previous administration indicates that s/he is one of the private architects to whom estimates are farmed out by the Lands Department.  If this is true, this story has blown another myth out of the window for all those who insist that Government’s work should be taken up by the private sector because they are more professionally reliable. This is sheer poppycock. This time, the mess is even further compounded since it seems that the architect not only estimated the share that Gaffarena wanted to sell to the Government, but also the property that Gaffarena received in compensation. This constitutes a direct conflict of interest. In other words, the implications are that this architect over-valued the share that Government was purchasing from Gaffarena and under-estimated the properties given by Government to Gaffarena, as a compensation for the requisitioned share.

The name of the architect in question should not be kept under wraps any longer. Responsibility should be shouldered all round. Under the previous Nationalist administration, there were a number of cowboy architects and others who made the life of common mortals hell not only but Castile gave them its full support and had blind faith in them;what a lark, at the expense of the poor man in the square.Strangely enough, those architects whotriggered most complaints for their bizarre and outlandishdecisions under PN are those same architects recruited by the present Taghna Lkoll Government. Transparency pleaseand resort to some common sense henceforth. Stop the gravy train at the expense of the meritorious worker.

Dr Jason Azzopardi should be congratulated for saying that those involved in this scam should be criminally charged. Incidentally, architects are one of the few professions, together with academics, that if they are found guilty of a criminal offence, even if, it is not related to their profession, can have their warrant withdrawn. Academics risk having their job at University terminated.

Dr Falzon said that the Government wanted to own at least part of the property to avoid having its Government Departments evicted by 2028. If the intentions of the Government were honourable then Government should have sought to buy the remaining shares directly from the original owners thus avoiding in the process such instances of dirty dealings

One has to praise the way how the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reacted to this additional scandal while in office. He accepted the Opposition’s request for an inquiry.  This is extremely positive.

I have no doubt about the honesty of the Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon in this whole affair. But the way he dealt with this scandal in seeking to defend the indefensible has now cost him his career.