Perpetual and freehold title

I refer to the letter by Karen M. Zammit Manduca (July 19).

I would like to clarify that I had no intention of ridiculing any NGO or anybody. People have a sacrosanct right to their opinions (even though I am "silly" to have one myself) but facts must always remain facts.

In my letter I was simply expressing my wonder at how one can undermine one's own credibility by inadvertent, or, worse, deliberate, misinformation that can inadvertently, or, worse, deliberately, cause commercial harm to private third parties. As everybody knows, deeds of sale, particularly those that pass through the process of parliamentary approval, are public documents. Of course, one has to bother to go to the appropriate sources in order to obtain access.

The fact remains that the situation should have been checked before opinions based on wild allegations were published in the newspapers.

The truth is that the land in question is held by a private owner by virtue of a title that is perpetual and freehold-certainly not a lease.