Charles Polidano.

Time is said to heal all wounds and it might have been the case with former Labour leader Alfred Sant and one of his prime targets, construction magnate Charles Polidano.

Montekristo Estates in Siġġiewi is tonight expected to host a reception forming part of Dr Sant’s ongoing campaign for the European Parliament May 24 election.

Turn the clock back some years and Iċ-Ċaqnu, as Mr Polidano is more commonly known, was one of Dr Sant’s prime targets in the friends of friends narrative which saw the Labour Party accuse successive Nationalist administrations of allowing influential financial backers of the party like him and his brother, Paul, to act abusively with impunity.

In one of his last high-profile campaigns against Polidano Brothers when he still led the Labour Party, Dr Sant accused the then Gonzi administration of being in “the hands of speculators” after the contractors were caught illegally dumping construction waste at sea while using the Freeport in Birżebbuġia as a base.

“It is not acceptable that someone, whoever he may be, should consider himself above the law, as the Polidano Group is doing,” Dr Sant had said. In the end, Charles and Paul Polidano were charged over the case.

Ironically, the venue itself for tonight’s reception itself is a symbol of the sort of criticism that used to be made by the former leader.

According to Mepa, it is “one of the largest illegally built construction sites on the island”.

Asked whether it was inappropriate for him to hold an event there seeing his past criticism of the notorious contractors, Dr Sant turned the question on to this newspaper: “As you say, I was an acerbic critic of the way by which the Polidano group were allowed to do as they please by successive PN administrations. At the time I got no backing from The Times.”

However, he argued that “the problem has since been addressed by the Labour administration”.

The reception, which Dr Sant said was organised by a group of friends as with other activities, will be held at the Renaissance Hall which, he said, is covered by permits.

Labour’s line on Polidano Brothers only really started to soften after Joseph Muscat became leader in 2008.

He too had chosen to hold an inauguration celebration at the same Montekristo Estates.

Nonetheless, some months after election last year, the Polidano Group faced the biggest concerted enforcement action on the Montekristo property and the adjacent Siġġiewi headquarters, which prompted Mr Polidano to issue an unprecedented apology and a pledge to rectify the situation.

The outcome of that action is still pending.