A Gozitan man has been ordered to reimburse €50,573 given to him as unemployment benefits by the Social Security Department after the department found that he owned land in Żebbuġ which he had not declared.

The reimbursement order was confirmed by the Court of Appeal.

The man, Kevin Sultana, received unemployment benefit between 2009 and 2015.

The land had been donated to Mr Sultana and his wife by his mother-in-law Dolores Dimech.   

Mrs Dimech had claimed that the intention was always that they would pass on the land to their minor daughter. The land was actually passed on to their daughter by deed in October 2015.  

An arbiter had therefore concluded that reimbursement of the unemployment benefit was not required.

But the Social Security Department appealed the decision.

The Appeals Court said there was never any obligation in the land transfer contract for the land to the transferred to the daughter, and in the second contract, the couple retained usufruct over the land.

Furthermore, those in receipt of social benefits had to declare half the value of property held by other members of their family.