A Gozitan family is insisting that Land Department officials helped them strike a deal to sell government land to a third party.

The land was sold on the very day it was acquired by a third party whose villa is next door.

“We did not want land in Siġġiewi because we had no use for it. However, officials from the Land Department advised us that by selling it to a third party we could get our compensation,” Victoria Xerri told the Times of Malta. “This was the only way we could get our much-awaited compensation and that is what we did.”

Pressed to name the Land Department officials who told her to make the deal, Ms Xerri said she could not recall any names.

On its part, the Land Department is insisting it was the Gozitan family that specifically requested a particular field in Siġġiewi.

Meanwhile, the department distanced itself from other deals the Gozitan family made after acquiring the land from the government.

Back in 1992, the government had expropriated land belonging to the Xerri family in Xagħra needed for road widening. Despite various attempts, the Xerri family failed to get compensation.

However, last January 6, the Land Department and the Xerri family signed a contract so that a particular field in Siġġiewi be transferred to the Gozitan family as compensation for the land expropriated 23 years earlier.

‘This was only way to get compensation’

On the same day, the family entered into a separate contract with Carmelo Farrugia, selling their newly-acquired field for €31,000. Mr Farrugia lives in a villa that is next to the field acquired by the Gozitan family.

Asked whether he had ever shown interest with the Land Department in acquiring the field in question, Mr Farrugia said he never contacted the department because he did not even know it belonged to the government. This was confirmed by the Land Department.

Mr Farrugia said it was Mario Xerri, Victoria’s husband, who went to him offering him the public land a day before he signed the contract.

Last week, Tania Micallef, the farmer tilling the land, said she had not been told the land she leased from the government had been transferred to her neighbour.

However, when contacted, Mr Farrugia vehemently denied this stating he had informed her through an official letter.

He also rejected claims that Ms Micallef used to till the land for many years and claimed she wanted €20,000 compensation for the land. “I have done nothing wrong. I just bought this property in a regular way after being approached by Mr Xerri. How he managed to get this particular field from the Land Department is not my business,” Mr Farrugia said.

The department insisted that such land exchanges had taken place for decades.

Asked to name the officials at the Land Department who spoke to the Xerri family on the Siġġiewi field swap, the department said: “It cannot be ascertained and established who spoke with Ms Xerri since she made several contestations with the department”.

The department said there was no official investigation into this deal.