A Castille Square monument to Dom Mintoff, selected in 2013, has been scrapped for undisclosed reasons.

The decision was taken by the Office of the Prime Minister despite opposition from members of the Mintoff family and staunch Labour supporters.

Heritage Malta CEO Kenneth Gambin admitted that the design selected by his organisation after a competitive process had been scrapped following a decision by the OPM. In December 2013, the government had announced that a design by Alfred Camilleri Cauchi had been selected as the Mintoff monument.

A spokesman for the OPM told The Sunday Times of Malta: “The whole Castille project incorporates a Mintoff monument which is currently in a very advanced design finalisation stage.”

Asked to name the artist commissioned and to say whether the monument will be a statue of Mintoff as originally planned, the spokesman did not reply.

However the prime minister's spokesman, Kurt Farrugia, said this morning that 'Mintoff's place in Castille Square is secure'. 

More in The Sunday Times of Malta.