Land Commissioner Joe Bugeja stepped down because of heavy political interference by Cabinet ministers, according to the Nationalist Party’s planning spokesman, Ryan Callus.

Addressing a press conference in front of the Auberge de Baviere, in Valletta, which houses the Land Department, Mr Callus said that Dr Bugeja was being completely kept in the dark over major decisions taken by the government over public property and was then expected to approve them and sign the relevant documents.

“It is obvious one cannot work in such circumstances. Dr Bugeja, widely known for his integrity, was put into a position where he just could not operate,” Mr Callus said.

Times of Malta reported Dr Bugeja’s resignation on Monday. He confirmed he had stepped down but would not say why. Sources at the Land Department said that Dr Bugeja’s resignation was due to lack of consultation and communication between the Office of the Prime Minister, under whose umbrella the department falls, and top Land Department officials.

Mr Callus said this was another confirmation that the Prime Minister’s pledge that valid people could work with a Labour government was just an electoral gimmick.

He referred to the Australia Hall case, saying it was a classical example of recent controversial decisions about which the Land Department was not consulted.

“The Labour government ordered the department to drop a court case against the Labour Party over Australia Hall. Dr Bugeja himself told a parliamentary committee he was not consulted about the decision,” Mr Callus said.

In 2011, the Land Department initiated court proceedings to take back public properties it had allocated to the Labour Party in 1979 on a perpetual emphyteusis basis.

It said the properties in question were left in a dilapidated state, in breach of the contract conditions.

Soon after Labour was returned to power last year, the court case was dropped, opening the way for the party to sell the property.

The Land Department was also not consulted over the political decision to pay €4.2 million in compensation to the operators of Cafe Premier, in Valletta, so the government could take the property back.

He said the deal was arranged by architect John Sciberras, engaged as a consultant to the Prime Minister, and the operators without any consultation with the Land Department.

Hundreds of thousands of euros in arrears, which the operators owed the Land Department, were cancelled as a result of the deal, Mr Callus said.