The Carmelite Order is facing a two-pronged legal battle over a proposed supermarket on the grounds of its Balluta priory, court documents show.

Developer John Cilia is suing the Order and demanding it honours a 50-year lease agreement signed in 2011 that allows commercial development on the priory’s garden.

However, in a second legal challenge, the Archbishop’s Curia has asked the courts to issue an injunction to stop the Carmelites and the developer from building the proposed supermarket, car park and offices.

In its defence, the Carmelite Order has submitted a sworn statement arguing that the 2011 agreement was null and void as it went against the law. When the private agreement was signed, the Order’s prior was Fr Anthony Cilia, the developer’s brother.

Read more in the Times of Malta.

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