Attempts by Marco Gaffarena to make a profit on the sale to the State of a second Valletta palazzo was another sign that the government was riddled with corruption, Simon Busuttil said yesterday.
“Who is Gaffarena bribing? Between whom is the money changing hands? Who is involved in this corruption?” he asked.
“Can you imagine somebody trying to buy a building being used as a police station, unless there is an agreement already in place through which he will sell it to the government and make a huge profit?”
If Mr Gafferena was so confident that the government would buy theproperty from him, was it not obvious corruption was involved?
The Opposition leader raised these questions in a telephone interview with Radio 101 as he was on his way back from China.
He was reacting to a story published yesterday by The Sunday Times of Malta which revealed Mr Gaffarena was in negotiations with the owners of Palazzo Verdelin to buy their property for €3.5 million, to sell it on to the government.
Mr Gaffarena has declined to comment.
The talks were halted when the newspaper last May revealed deals over another building, in Old Mint Street. The government bought half of this property for €1.65 million, with Mr Gaffarena making a profit of €685,000 in less than two months and acquiring parcels of land the size of 10 football pitches. The government has denied wrongdoing; two inquiries have been launched.
Overlooking St George’s square, the 16th-century Palazzo Verdelin in Archbishop Street is used as a police station through an emphyteuses agreement expiring in 2028.
Dr Busuttil yesterday said the Opposition would do its utmost for the truth on this “scandal” to come out and for political responsibility to be shouldered.
On China, Dr Busuttil blamed Labour for “blurring” relations between the two countries through its way of doing politics.
The appointment of Sai Mizzi Liang as special envoy to Asia was a case in point. She had “leapfrogged” people with better credentials simply because she was the wife of the Energy Minister, he said.
Her appointment had created unnecessary complications be-tween the two countries, which Malta could have done without.
He also noted that in an hour-long meeting he had in China with Shangai Electric Power officials, he learnt much more than all the information divulged by the Maltese government in two years.