A man who in 1981 was robbed of massive plots of land in Fgura by a clique of ‘businessmen’ acting together with then Labour Minister Lorry Sant has been awarded €50,000 in moral compensation with the possibility that he would get a further €1 million in compensation after another court judgement.

The case of Joseph Borg goes back to a few days before the 1981 general election when, in front of a public notary, he was forced through threats and violence to transfer his property – half of 23 plots in Fgura – to Piju Camilleri, at the time works manager at Mr Sant’s ministry and described by the court as “a smokescreen for the late Labour minister”.

Plots transferred to Lorry Sant’s ‘smokescreen’ were worth €1.1 million

In 1989 he had instituted a court case to take back his property. The court had found in his favour and said that what had happened was part of the institutionalised corruption surrounding the Labour government of the 1980s and particularly the rampant systematic land grab corruption led by Mr Sant. Apart from Mr Camilleri, there were other collaborators, including Joe Pace and Victor Balzan.

However, when Mr Borg and his company instituted a second court case in order to make the culprits pay, the court presided by the late Judge Raymond Pace said Mr Borg should not be entitled to compensation as he was also involved in the corruption.

The latter judgment was confirmed by the court of appeal, so Mr Borg, through his lawyer Edward Debono, opened a constitutional case to challenge the sentence.

In her judgment, Madame Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland found in favour of Mr Borg and said his constitutional right to a fair hearing and compensation was breached by the second court sentence.

While awarding Mr Borg €50,000 in State compensation for the moral damages suffered as a result of a wrong court decision, the Constitutional Court declared Mr Borg a victim of corruption who should be compensated further.

“Mr Borg can now go to the Constitutional Court to annul the sentence in which he was deemed not to have a right to compensation for his plots of land,” it said.

According to the court, the plots transferred to Mr Sant’s “smokescreen” (Piju Camilleri known as il-Ħawsla) were worth €1.1 million.

Mr Borg’s land was identified as part of a thorough investigation made following the Nationalist Party’s return to power in 1987.

The Permanent Commission against Corruption had found sufficient evidence of systematic corruption in the acquisition of large tracts of land and the issue of building permits for development.