A dangerous precedent could be set if outstanding company tax bills are settled through a property transfer to government, lawyer Robert Abela has warned.
The son of former president George Abela was reacting to a government scheme intended to provide a ready supply of housing units for use in social accommodation.
Details of the scheme were revealed by The Sunday Times of Malta, which showed how one of the first tax arrangements concerned a Birkirkara-based construction company, Tal-Ħerba Construction Group.
The group has agreed to hand over a number of unsold apartments to the Housing Authority to settle a tax bill running into hundreds of thousands of euros.
This type of arrangement has never happened and senior government sources have questioned the judiciousness of the scheme.
In a Facebook post, Dr Abela asked why a company with so much property on its books did not sell it off to settle its tax bill.
He added: “If it refuses to sell [the property], why does the Tax Commissioner not execute the executive title he probably has against the company and force the sale of the property to collect his and our dues?”
Dr Abela warned that this could create a dangerous precedent and asked what advantage the government could gain from such a deal rather than taking the necessary action to collect its dues.
“If there is an advantage for the government and the people I will speak otherwise, as long as every taxpayer is given the same opportunity,” Dr Abela wrote.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat made reference to the scheme during his Sunday morning speech at the Żebbuġ Labour Party club yesterday, insisting the valuation of the property to be transferred would be done by independent audit firms and scrutinised by a separate board.
“This scheme has tier after tier of controls and it will provide us with an immediate stock of properties for housing purposes while unblocking situations that have dragged on for years,” Dr Muscat said.
He explained the scheme was born from a request for proposals made three years ago by former social solidarity minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca for individuals to offer their properties for social housing purposes.
In a statement released later in the afternoon, Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said the process had taken its time to ensure good governance and accused the newspaper of bad intentions.