Patrick Dalli has prevented the buyer of his controversial Żejtun farmhouse from showing The Sunday Times of Malta the promise of sale agreement on the property.
The buyer, Jason Desira, turned up at a press conference two weeks ago held by the Opposition outside the Żejtun farmhouse owned by Mr Dalli’s company, Pada Builders Limited, to say he was carrying out the works on the property and had no difficulty publishing the promise of sale agreement.
Mr Dalli is the husband of Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli and the company owning the farmhouse is listed in her declaration of assets. The farmhouse located outside the development zone has been at the centre of controversy after this newspaper revealed work was being carried out on the site that was served an enforcement notice due to several infringements.
Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta on Friday, Mr Desira confirmed he was working on the property, saying it was “necessary”. Both the minister and her husband have said they were not aware of any work on the site, even though their residential home is only metres away.
Mr Desira was due to present the promise of sale agreement at 10.30 am yesterday at a meeting point in Marsascala. He said he would first confirm with Mr Dalli but then called to cancel.
Mr Dalli’s wife said in Parliament last Wednesday she had tabled the promise of sale agreement, but it was only an extension of the original agreement signed in 2012. The extension does not contain the full details of the original agreement, such as the price at which the property was sold.
This is significant because an application is currently being considered by the planning authority, filed by Mr Dalli, to sanction all the infringements on site.
The case was heard on November 13 by a new Mepa board recently appointed by the Prime Minister. The new members include a Labour Party candidate and the former CEO of a planning consultancy.
The hearing prompted the Opposition to file a request with the Ombudsman’s office to investigate the case since the Environment and Planning Act states any application to sanction infringements should be refused immediately if an enforcement notice prohibiting further activity on the site is breached.
Mepa said in a statement yesterday that an inspection carried out showed “no further construction works” had been carried out. Yet the bone of contention was not additional construction – but workers on site finishing off a property that the planning authority deemed had infringements.
The Prime Minister twice acknowledged during media debates that the work had been done, saying, however, that it was not commissioned by the minister.
He told Times of Malta on Friday that the minister had acknowledged “things could have been done better” and therefore an apology was not necessary. Yet there is no record of such an acknowledgment. In fact, last Wednesday she demanded the Opposition take political responsibility for the “lies” on the case.