[attach id=298376 size="medium"]Construction magnate Charles Polidano. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi[/attach]
An appeals judge yesterday threw out construction magnate Charles Polidano’s request to have a criminal case against him nullified.
Mr Polidano appealed against a €100,000 fine he received in July for cutting down protected trees and demolishing a wall.
When fining him, Magistrate Anthony Vella said the environment should be strictly protected.
“The people’s livelihood depended on achieving a fine balance, which was why the law imposed tough penalties on those who committed crimes against the environment,” the magistrate had said.
He had noted that Mr Polidano, known as iċ-Ċaqnu, had ignored the scheduling of a property, an emergency conservation order and an enforcement notice issued by the planning authority.
This showed lack of respect towards authority and the law. Such an attitude had to stop once and for all, the magistrate said.
In his appeal, Mr Polidano objected to lawyer Robert Farrugia being part of the proceedings, claiming he was an interested party against him and did not have an official role, yet, practically conducted the prosecution.
The case should therefore be declared null, he argued.
Mr Justice David Scicluna noted that the magistrate had accepted Dr Farrugia as having been parte civile in the case and the law did not prevent the police being helped by a lawyer. He threw out Mr Polidano’s request.
The Malta Environment and Planning Authority last month raided a large area owned by Mr Polidano in Ħal-Farruġ, limits of Luqa, and moved to demolish illegally built structures.
Mr Polidano secured an injunction stopping the demolition but withdrew it days later and, uncharacteristically, apologised to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, even publishing the letter.
The company has now submitted a restoration method statement on upgrading and embellishing the site and is waiting for the go-ahead to start work.
Mepa had sealed off the area behind Polidano Brothers’ headquarters last year after it was turned into an illegal storage depot and a scrapyard.