The owner of a spectacular property in Rabat has been fined €5,000 for holding weddings and carrying out construction work without permission.

Contractor Charles Mangion, 53, who lives at Palazzo Virtú near the seminary in Virtú, blamed his business partner Winston Zahra for the operation of the weddings and Marius Marinov, a man who wanted to buy the palace, for carrying out the building work.

But Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera threw out his defence and found that the property was entirely in his possession when the weddings and the work were carried out.

He was found guilty of holding the weddings and serving food and alcohol without the necessary licences, failing to produce fiscal receipts and causing a disturbance with loud music.

He said he had obeyed the enforcement notices

Mr Mangion argued that he had gone into business with Island Caterers, owned by Mr Zahra, and did not know if they had a licence to hold weddings at his premises.

When it came to the illegal construction work, he said he had obeyed the enforcement notices and removed a structure which housed the toilets.

Any other work was carried out by the previous owner of the site, Yurst Merten, he added.

The property, which is listed for sale at €5 million, is situated just steps away from the 500-year-old Santa Marija Tal-Virtù chapel which is still owned by the Church. The surrounding land, however, is owned by Mr Mangion.

He had undertaken the restoration of the chapel and in 2009 it hosted its first Mass in 70 years.

The chapel had been previously used for Black Masses and the original structure was extensively damaged when overturned crucifixes were carved into the walls and painted in black over the altar.

Magistrate Scerri Herrera also ordered that Mr Mangion conform to VAT law on receipts and fined him a further €20 a day if he failed to do so.