Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli.

The Nationalist Party said yesterday the environment planning commission broke the law when it heard the case regarding Patrick Dalli’s application to sanction illegalities on a controversial Żejtun farmhouse.

The farmhouse, located outside the development zone, is owned by a company belonging to Mr Dalli, the husband of Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli.

It has been at the centre of a controversy after this newspaper revealed work was being carried out on the site that was served with an enforcement notice due to a list of illegalities.

The recently appointed commission, one of the planning authority’s boards, heard the case on November 13 and then put off the case at the request of Mr Dalli, the applicant.

Members include a Labour Party candidate and the former CEO of a planning consultancy.

Nationalist Party planning spokesman Ryan Callus said it was “scandalous” that no member of the commission raised any questions related to the works done on the Żejtun farmhouse.

He said this was in breach of the Environment and Planning Act, which laid down that any application to sanction illegalities should be refused immediately if an enforcement notice prohibiting further activity on the site was breached.

“The commission heard and acted on this case despite the scandal widely reported.

“Its members never asked any question on this. This is a commission recently appointed by the Prime Minister. He too has a lot to answer for,” Mr Callus said.

The PN wrote to the Ombudsman asking his office to investigate the alleged breach.

Both Mr Dalli and the minister have said they were not aware of works being done.

Dr Dalli walked away from journalists when they asked questions about the property during two events on Thursday.

She referred journalists to information she had tabled in Parliament the previous evening. In fact, the documents were still in government whip Carmelo Abela’s possession. He tabled them in the afternoon of the following day.

However, what was tabled was not the promise of sale agreement, as the minister had said, but an extension of it, lacking the details such an agreement would contain.

Mr Dalli has challenged the Opposition leader to a TV debate but Mr Callus stressed the minister had to carry political responsibility. He noted Dr Dalli evaded media questions and opted to speak on the adjournment in Parliament, when questions were not allowed.

The Prime Minister told Times of Malta yesterday the minister had acknowledged that “things could have been done better” and, therefore, an apology was not necessary.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Dr Dalli demanded that the Opposition take political responsibility for the “lies” on the issue.

She said she had no shares in her husband’s firm, she was not a director and had “no right” to participate in its operations, adding that the community of acquests would only kick in if she separated from her husband or he died.

This was described by a lawyer as a “legal heresy”, as the community of acquests began at the start of the marriage.