Two tumoli of public agricultural land on the outskirts of Siggiewi were sold to a building contractor to serve as an extension to his villa after the intervention of the Land Department, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.

The farmers who tilled the land for decades were left in the dark over the sale of the property while the government’s Land Department was directly involved in the transaction.

Tania Micallef, a widowed farmer whose family has tilled the land for more than a century, said she got to know the land was sold by the government when Carmel Farrugia, the owner of the villa adjacent to her land, told her to move out.

“Earlier this year, while we were working in our field, Mr Farrugia came and told us we should vacate our property as he had bought the land from the government,” Ms Micallef said.

“We were astounded as we couldn’t understand how our land ended up being sold to our neighbour,” she said.

“When we went to the Land Department, we were not given any details. They just told us that our land has been transferred to a Gozitan family and that they were the new owners.”

“We feel we were robbed of our livelihood and that some sinister deal has been done by the government. We want the truth to come out,” Ms Micallef said.

Documents seen by this newspaper show that on January 6, a contract was signed between the Land Department and the Xerri family from Xagħra.

Under this agreement, two tumoli of agricultural land in Siggiewi was transferred in exchange for two small parcels of land in Xagħra that were expropriated by the government for public purposes back in 1992.

The Land Department offices in Valletta. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Mr Farrugia’s property marked in red. Green outline refers to new land acquired by Mr Farrugia following the Land Department deal with a Gozitan family.

While the land in Siggiewi measured 1,816 square metres, the land taken from the Gozitan family 23 years earlier measured a total of 52 square metres but was considered as land which could be built upon.

On the same day that the transaction was made between the Land Department and the Xerri family, the new Gozitan owners signed a separate contract with MCF Ltd in which they sold their newly acquired land for €31,000.

The sole shareholder of MCF Ltd happened to be Carmel Farrugia, the contractor who owned the villa adjacent to the land in Siggiewi acquired by the Gozitan family. When contacted, a member of the Xerri family said: “This is a private matter”. He refused to respond when asked how the family had acquired and sold land within such a short space of time.

According to the Disposal of Government Land Act, the government is only permitted to exchange land according to specific parameters. The law states that “the exchange (of land) may not be effected if the value of the government land to be given exceeds 30 per cent of the value of the expropriated land”.

We feel we were robbed of our livelihood and that some sinister deal has been done by the government

According to the contract signed between the Xerri family and the Land department, the land in Siggiewi had a value of €31,000 while the land in Gozo expropriated in 1992 now had a value of €29,474. According to legal experts, this meant that the Land Department was precluded at law from entering into this deal as the 30 per cent rule had been breached.

Meanwhile, trucks and bulldozers have started carrying out work in the area leading to Mr Farrugia’s villa.

According to Ms Micallef, the workers demolished part of the field walls, dug trenches and pulled away fences in what appears to be preparatory work to build foundations of a new access road to the back of the villa’s garden.

The works are not coved by a planning authority permit.

A police report has been filed over these works and the police are investigating.

In reply to questions sent by The Sunday Times of Malta to the Parliamentary Secretariat for Planning the Government Property Division said: “Way back in 1992, the government had expropriated land at Xagħra, Gozo for road widening. The owners had since then been requesting payment for the land which had been taken over from them. In fact the compensation due to them was inserted in a waiting list for eventual payment.

“The owner also complained that according to him all the other owners had been paid. On July 7, 2014 the owners sent Government Property Division a letter requesting the exchange of the expropriated property with a field at Siġġiewi. A valuation of both the expropriated land and the land requested was prepared. The value of the expropriated land including interest was established at €29,474, while the value of the field at Siġġiewi was established at €31,000.

“This exchange is within the parameters of Clause 13 (article 3) of Chapter 268.

“The owners of the expropriated land had to pay €1,526 being the difference between the value of the expropriated land and the land given in exchange. The final deed of the exchange was signed on January 6, 2015.”