Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi said the European Commission would no doubt be scrutinising the Corinthia land deal, which the government decided to review amid opposition by various quarters.

The original deal with Corinthia, which Dr Mizzi had already presented to Parliament’s National Audit Office Accounts Committee, had to go back to the drawing board after a number of businessmen warned it could be scrutinised by Brussels as it amounted to state aid, thus breaching EU rules.

The original deed would have seen the Corinthia Group pay a €17 million premium for a commercial concession in St George’s Bay estimated to have a market price of €700 million.

Colliers International was appointed to valuate the new deal so that the report could be presented to the European Commission “if needs be”, Dr Mizzi said, adding the government wanted a company of international repute that was independent from Malta.

Same basis of the deal negotiated with db Group

Colliers International is a global real estate services company which has Corinthia among its clients. The original Deloitte valuation had been made “on the same basis of the deal negotiated with db Group”, Dr Mizzi had told the parliamentary committee last December. The db Group was allocated the area where the former Institute of Tourism Studies used to stand. The deal had also sparked off a controversy because of the low premium the developers would be paying.

The Deloitte valuation was not scrapped, Dr Mizzi said, adding that the parameters of the deal had simply changed. The new negotiations would ensure there would be no land reclamation and the foreshore would remain accessible, he said.

Once the new valuation was done it would be submitted to Cabinet, Dr Mizzi added, insisting that he was simply implementing a decision by the government.

Pro-environment NGOs had objected to the project and demanded that a preliminary memorandum of understanding between the government and Corinthia would be published. Dr Mizzi rejected the request but said the final contract would be made public.