Prime Minister Robert Abela said Wednesday that the government will do all it can to prevent eviction for Nadur and Qala residents caught up in a land dispute, and condemned ‘multi-millionaires pigging out’ as they tried to make money by forcing Gozitan families off their land.

A Gozitan family has been ordered to evict their Qala home following a court decision which is to affect dozens of other families whose houses are built on land owned by the 17th-century foundation, Abbazia di Sant’ Antonio degli Navarra. Its heirs claim to be the rightful owners of the areas of land in Qala and Nadur, Gozo.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Abela said that government had acted last year to introduce Legal Notice 73 of 2022 in February, which resulted in the revocation of all land registrations in a large area of Nadur, which included the Abbazia’s titles.

He described the attempt to evict families from their homes as an “obscenity,” adding that it is not acceptable for speculators to make their millions off the back of others by removing their likely-only asset away from them.

Abela went so far to say that he will not allow anyone to take away the homes of these families, deeming it “shameful.”

He said that this was “pigging out” (hnizrijiet) and that he did not mind using this language about those who “pig out at the expense of the weak.”

Abela, addressing the Abbazia, said that government will do all it can to ensure this does not happen.

He said that the evicted family intend to appeal the court sentence, encouraging them to do so, while further slamming the people behind the foundation’s claims.

“I hope the judiciary stays vigilant to ensure that the vulnerable are protected, and that protection is not given to capitalists who make use of their connections to beat down the small,” Abela said.

The Abbazia was set up as a foundation to hold lands of heirs of noblewoman Cosmana Cumbo Stagno Navarra. The Stagno Navarra family, who claim they are heirs to the Abbazia, secured control of the foundation by paying off the Maltese Catholic Church an initial sum of €200,000 despite 20 years of legal challenges to Richard Stagno Navarra’s claim.