Mr Justice Silvio Meli this morning ordered that no construction at Polidano's Montekristo Estate in Hal Farrug was to be carried out until a decision on a warrant of prohibitory injunction is taken.

However, in a new twist, Mepa CEO Johann Buttigieg told a news conference the authority held a meeting with Charles Polidano today and he gave the authority reason to understand he could withdraw the warrant.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, a copy of which can be read in the PDF link below, Mr Polidano said it was not the company’s intention to escalate any situation and confirmed its willingness to fully cooperate with the competent authorities on the matter.

He apologised for any inconvenience caused and said this was unintended.

This morning, the planning authority requested the court to hold an on site inquiry to see the extent of the illegal development by Polidano Bros.

Mepa also called on the court to ensure that Polidano Bros Ltd and Montekristo Estates Ltd were stopped from continuing with any construction or other activity currently being carried out at the site.

In his decree, Mr Justice Meli said that for the reasons mentioned in the application "which could have been written in a more respectful manner", he ordered that no structural work should be carried out on site with immediate effect, until an ulterior decision was taken after Polidano's request for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction was heard.

The hearing was scheduled for December 11.

An attempt was made by the planning authority yesterday to demolish illegal structures on the site but was stopped when a court provisionally upheld a request for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction.

This morning, most of the workers who turned up at Polidano's operations returned home after they found the gates closed.

Later, the authority filed its an application, signed by Robert Abela. It claimed that the issue was not about a minor infraction but about massive development without permit.

The Polidanos,  it said, were trying to play the victim saying that their property would be damaged. What they were not saying was that the property was completely illegal, abusive and an insult to citizens as it lacked all the necessary permit.

The authority insisted that it was not right that because one was a major contractor, one believed he was above the law and could do what he wanted.

The Polidanos believed that "might is right", that they were above the law and that they could do whatever they wanted.

Mepa called on the court to ensure that until it decided on the warrant, the status quo on the site was retained.

Mr Buttigieg told the news conference that if Mr Polidano withdrew his warrant, the authority would give him a week to explain the situation and provide it with a timeframe within which he would remove the illegalities.

If he did not withdraw the warrant, Mepa did not have a problem to again take direct action after a decision on the warrant was taken by the court.

Mr Buttigieg said that enforcement notices on the site started to be issued in 1996 and legal action on the illegalities at Hal Farrug was embarked upon on September 12. Another two enforcement notices on two illegalities found yesterday were issued today.

The Polidanos, Mr Buttigieg said, had more than €20,000 in daily fines on enforcement notice breaches.

The Polidano site at Hal Farrug, he said, spanned an area of more than 300 square metres and about 64,000 square metres of it was covered by enforcement notices.

He insisted that it was a coincidence that yesterday's action came just two days before a protest in Valletta by various environment groups over illegal and excessive development."It was something that had to be done... In recent weeks and months, the Polidanos have gone out of control... Mepa had to take the bull by the horns," he said.Mr Buttigieg said that Mepa was also investigating who had leaked to the Polidanos that direct action was being taken.He said that Mr Polidano told Mepa that he closed shop today for workers to calm down and assured them they would be paid for the day and could return to work on Monday.

Among the structures which the enforcement officers had intended to demolish was an illegally-built replica of a De Redin watch tower and a cafeteria.

The wedding hall area is covered by the necessary permits and no Mepa action is directed towards that site.

 

Attached files

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