The fact that the government will be transferring the former Café Premier to the Valletta council continued to confirm how vitiated the process to acquire the property had been, Nationalist Party spokesman David Agius said.

Through a statement he asked why the government left the property vacant for two-and-a-half years if it had wanted to pass it on to the council.

On the other hand, if the government had only decided now to pass on the building to the council, why was there haste to negotiate the buy-back of the property.

This had been done through private e-mails and without the involvement of the Land Commissioner for €4.2 million back in 2013.

A court case for the retrieval of the lease could have easily been opened saving €4.2 million in the process. Had this been done, the case would by now have been decided.

The PN had no objection to the council being given a suitable location but the story clearly showed the government had never planned to acquire the Café Premier and confirmed major irregularities in the process.

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