(Adds PL, government statements)
The government could have used the €18 million squandered on the Gaffarena, Cafe’ Premier and Australia Hall scandals to pay most of the monies due in the Home Ownership Scheme, Citizens’ Rights shadow minister Jason Azzopardi and environment spokesman Ryan Callus said this morning.
Addressing a news conference a few metres away from a rural road leading to a plot of land in Qormi given to Mark Gaffarena as part of a controversial €1.65 million expropriation deal, they said that hundreds of families were still waiting for their dues while those close to the government were becoming rich overnight.
It was clear that the government’s priorities were not Maltese and Gozitan families but a few close individuals.
Mr Callus noted that in its first two years, the government had opted to withdraw the Australia Hall case against the party, which resulted in the PL getting a €10 million gift, it gave €4.2 million to the owner of Café Premier after his business went bankrupt, and it gave €500,000 and seven lands with a value of nearly €3 million to Gaffarena. However, it did not manage to find a cent to implement justice with Maltese and Gozitan families.
Mr Callus said that the rural road constructed in Qormi was confirmation that this was a Gaffarena government.
This was because adjacent country roads which are in dire need of repair did not benefit from the works even though the families living there had been pleading for them for a long time.
Dr Azzopardi said that under the previous administration, some 600 families were paid for land stolen from their families around 30 years ago while around another 600 families became owners of their home for the first time.
Between 2009 and 2012, the government had paid around €8 million for these families to become home owners.
Its plan had been to pay all families whose land had been expropriated by next year but this government had stopped this process.
This was confirmation that the government’s priorities were not Maltese and Gozitan families but a few close individuals, he said.
PROJECT PART OF A BIGGER ONE WITH EU FUNDS - GOVERNMENT
In a reply, the government said that the work was part of a bigger project being carried out with European funds and from which hundreds of farmers in several localities were benefitting. A total of 11 pieces of land worked by farmers were benefitting from the work in the road leading to the Gaffarena land.
It said it was clear that the Nationalist Party wanted to deceive by trying to give the impression that only one road was done when the project was much bigger and spread over 72 rural roads.
It was also irresponsible to try to cast doubts on a project financed by EU funds which would have gone through several scrutinies.
The government said that, in all, some 180 applications had been submitted to benefit from the project and 149 qualified.
GOVERNMENT ALLOWING ITSELF TO BE PUBLICLY SCRUTINISED - PL
In a reply, the Labour Party said Dr Azzopardi should speak on the increase in financial compensation he and former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had proposed for land at Mtahleb, on the land at Fekruna and on other lands given until a few hours prior to the last general election.
The PL said that the government was being publicly scrutinised and had even called investigations regarding the cases mentioned by the Opposition.
This was contrary to what used to be done by the Nationalist government, which hid many investigations, contracts and agreements, such as those of Mater Dei and Skanska.