Court clears two ex-DCC members

Two former members of the Development Control Commission were cleared of exercising private interest in the adjudication of an outline permit for a controversial open-air discothèque in Mistra.

Magistrate Edwina Grima found that the elements of the crime had not been proven and the two men were “of a certain professional integrity” and “could never be found guilty”.

This was primarily because evidence showed they had no private interest in voting for the outline development permit that, in itself, did not lead to the development going ahead.

Last year, Philip Azzopardi, former chairman of a Development Control Commission (DCC) board, and Anthony Mifsud, a former board member, were charged with taking a private interest in the adjudication of the permit.

Their arraignment followed a three-month police investigation that was launched after the Labour Party, shortly before the March 2008 general election, alleged there was corruption in the way the permit was issued for the land owned by Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

Magistrate Grima went through the two main points made by the prosecution.

The first point relates to the fact that the accused told the police that throughout the adjudication process they attended meetings organised by the planning authority’s complaints and liaison officer Lawrence Vassallo and which were attended by Dr Pullicino Orlando.

During investigations, the two men showed uncertainly as to whether such meetings should have been taken place. However, the magistrate noted, such meetings constituted normal practice by the Complaints and Liaison Department to iron out issues between the planning authority officers and developers.

Evidence also showed that it was Mr Vassallo that decided who should attend the meetings and the two accused never tried to make any private contacts.

The second argument made by the prosecution revolved around the accused saying that Dr Pullicino Orlando’s presence at the meetings influenced their decision.

However, they maintained they never knew that Dr Pullicino Orlando was the owner of the land and may have attended the meetings for personal reasons. They thought he attended because of his interest in the tourism aspect of the development. On evaluating the evidence, Magistrate Grima noted that, for the charge to subsist, several elements had to be proven and the most important was that they had a private interest.

She went on to note that evidence indicated this was not the case and listed the reasons: They did not know the project applicant, owner or developer let alone Dr Pullicino Orlando; they had no interest in the shares of any company run by Dr Pullicino Orlando; they were never bribed or accepted brides; the meetings with the MP were legitimately organised.

The decision to grant the outline permit was taken by the whole board and did not depend on the two accused; they did not pressure other board members; the decision was not final and it recommended that the granting of a full development permit was subject to various conditions.

The two men were cleared of the charge brought against them. The magistrate pointed out that throughout the case she had been presented with irrelevant evidence that went into the adjudication procedure. That, she said, was up to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to decide.

Police Inspector Angelo Gafà prosecuted.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio, Stephen Tonna Lowell and Peter Fenech represented the two men.

Satisfied with the judgment

Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando welcomed the court’s decision as evidence that all the allegations made against him before the March 2008 elections were in fact false.

“I had to face allegations that have now been proven false... I’m sorry that these two men and their families had to pass through all this for nothing,” he said in a reaction to the judgment that cleared the two former DCC members.

After the allegations were made by the Labour Party, before the 2008 general election, police investigations led to the arraignment of three men. Mr Azzopardi and Mr Mifsud were acquitted yesterday and the case against George Micallef - who used to be a high-level consultant with the Malta Tourism Authority – was charged over a false declaration and planning development crimes. His case remains pending.

No criminal action was ever taken against Dr Pullicino Orlando.

The planning authority noted “with satisfaction” that the two former DCC board members were freed from the charge brought against them.

The authority said it had full trust in the Maltese judiciary.

Chronology outline by the court

On September 20, 2005, Ian Sultana filed an application for an outline development permit for an open air entertainment area at Mistra. A certificate of ownership was also filed informing the authority that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was the land owner.

Following consultation with environment and heritage authorities, the case officer concluded that the project should not be recommended for approval because the site was a special area of conservation with agricultural value.

The case went to the Development Control Commission board A that processes applications outside development zone. The board was chaired by Philip Azzopardi and Anthony Mifsud was one of the members.

During the first board meeting in April 2006, the board asked for more information and referred the case to the executive committee for legal direction.

On June 2, 2006, the applicant submitted a detailed report by George Micallef (who has a pending court case on the matter) on behalf of Insite Consultants.

In August 2006 the committee said the project was not justified.

During a DCC board meeting in January 2007, members suggested holding the application until a strategic plan for the area was outlined. This was to include the contribution of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA).

In September that year, the case officer asked for the MTA’s recommendations. These were identical to those made by Mr Micallef and it eventually resulted he had drawn them up as a consultant to the authority.

After this report was filed, the DCC board members approved the outline development permit by five votes to one.

The board also concluded that a full development permit should be subject to the granting of another permit requested by the MTA for upgrading works at Mistra as well as traffic impact and noise assessments.

In December 2007, the applicant applied for a full development permit that was withdrawn on March 4, 2008, four days before the general election.