Labour takes legal action over Siġġiewi club eviction

The controversy over the Labour Party's Siġġiewi clubhouse took a legal twist yesterday when the party filed a court protest claiming discrimination after the government refused to renew the lease, which ends on June 30.

In a judicial protest, Labour said the government's decision not to renew the lease on the property in Siġġiewi's main square was motivated by parti-san politics and mainly insti-gated by Nationalist Party councillor and deputy mayor Karol Aquilina.

The property will have to be vacated by the end of the month and it will be passed on to the Siġġiewi local council for use as a day care centre on July 1, a spokesman for the Land Parliamentary Secretariat told The Times.

However, the government last Friday offered Labour a temporary solution.

"The Commissioner of Land has written to the Labour Party deputy leader responsible for party affairs, offering, on encroachment basis, the use of the space currently used by the Siġġiewi local council for a period of one year only," the spokesman said.

The judicial protest claimed the action was "illegal, abusive and discriminatory", especially since the PN also used government-owned properties and had been given preferential treatment. It was filed by Labour president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, executive secretary Lydia Abela and Siġġiewi sectional committee representatives.

They also pointed out that while, the government had terminated the lease because it wanted to transfer the building to the Siġġiewi local council for use as a day care centre, the council already had a development permit for a day care centre on a plot of land it had bought for the purpose.

Labour said that although the payment of annual rent was refused by the Commissioner of Land earlier this year it still deposited the money at the law courts.

Talking to The Times, Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi said he had nothing to add to the judicial protest but insisted the clubhouse had been passed on to Labour after a public tender was issued in the 1980s.

The controversy, which had until now been confined to political bickering, erupted last year when Dr Aquilina presented a motion in the council asking the government not to renew Labour's lease on the prime-site property and instead pass it on to the council for use as a day care centre. The motion was approved by the PN majority on the council.

However, in an interview with The Sunday Times, Siġgiewi mayor Robert Musumeci had said he did not want to hinder Labour's work in the town and wanted to find an alternative solution.

The judicial protest, signed by lawyers Toni Abela, Labour's deputy leader, and Edward Gatt, was filed against the Commissioner of Land, the Director General of the Properties Division and the Siġġiewi local council.

Labour called on the authorities to stop further action against the club.

Meanwhile, Dr Aquilina yesterday wrote to Labour leader Joseph Muscat asking him to ensure the premises would be vacated by June 30, insisting it would not be "legally and morally right" for the party to continue occupying public property after the lease is up.

The PN also criticised the court protest and insisted Labour was continuing to "drown in scandal" when it refused to hand over private and public property it had taken possession of when in government for use as party clubs.