Court confirms compensation to ex-PM over Delimara house

The Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed an award of Lm360,000 in favour of former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff in compensation for the de facto expropriation of his home at Delimara.

The appellate court however ordered that any amounts already paid to Mr Mintoff by way of compensation be deducted from the total compensation awarded.

Mr Mintoff and his wife (who had since died) had filed a constitutional application in 1994 against the government, the Minister for the Environment and Enemalta Corporation.

They had claimed that their fundamental human right to enjoyment of their own property, consisting of their home known as L-Gharix, in Delimara, had been violated.

This, according to the Mintoffs, was the result of the construction of the Delimara power station just a road's width away from their home.

Following Mrs Mintoff's death the case was continued in Mr Mintoff's name and in that of his wife's heirs, Anna McKenna and Yana Joan Mintoff Bland.

In August 2004, the First Hall of the Civil Court had found that the Mintoffs' human rights had been violated and awarded them Lm360,000 by way of compensation.

Appeals from this judgment were lodged to the Constitutional Court by the Mintoffs, by the government and by Enemalta.

The Mintoffs submitted that the compensation should have been higher and that the first court ought to have ordered the government to provide them with an alternative residence.

The government and Enemalta submitted that the compensation was exaggerated and that the first court ought to have ordered the government to expropriate the Mintoffs' property and to pay compensation in terms of the law governing expropriation.

They further claimed that they ought not to have been ordered to pay the costs of the litigation as the Mintoffs had produced many irrelevant witnesses and had not availed themselves of the opportunity to reach an amicable settlement.

The Constitutional Court, composed of Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Mr Justice Joseph D. Camilleri and Mr Justice Joseph A. Filletti, turned down the appeal filed by the Mintoffs.

It also turned down the appeal lodged by the government and Enemalta, except for one request.

The court consequently varied the judgment appealed from, by ordering each party to pay its own costs of the litigation.

The court however confirmed the compensation award of the first court, but ruled that the sum of Lm212,950 already paid to the Mintoffs (prior to the First Hall's judgment) was to be deducted from the Lm360,000 compensation award.