The Nationalist Party insisted this afternoon that responsibility for the controversial expropriation of a property in Old Mint Street in Valletta rested squarely on the prime minister since land fell under his ministerial portfolio.
"The prime minister can no longer try to shirk responsibility for the Old Mint Street scandal," shadow minister Jason Azzopardi said.
Speaking at a press conference, Dr Azzopardi said the prime minister could not claim transparency and then fail to reply to questions, such as those made by Times of Malta (which had revealed the case).
The government announced this morning that the its Audit and Investigations Unit would investigate the case, separately from an investigation by the Auditor-General.
"Castille will be investigating Castille. They seem to be more comfortable with their own investigation," Nationalist MP Ryan Callus said. He pointed out that in terms of the law, the government was not obliged to publish the findings of such investigations.
Dr Azzopardi said it was 'spin' of the government to boast that it had readily accepted an investigation by the Auditor-General. It actually had no choice in terms of the law.
He said the PN had called for a more through investigation especially since insider information - the leakage of information by a civil servant - amounted to a crime.
It appeared, he said that a 23-year-old Castille employee, Clint Scerri, was involved in this case, but clearly, he had acted on orders from above.
Referring to comments by the former former of the Old Mint Street property, Dr Azzopardi agreed that the case 'stinks'. It was likely, he said, that the case would grow.
He pointed out that this was the first time since independence that ministerial responsibility for land fell directly in the prime minister's portfolio.
"And yet this is where the major scandals are happening, as evidence by what took place at Australia Hall, the Cafe' Premier and now this," Dr Azzopardi said.
In announcing the investigation by the Internal Audit and Investigations Department the government said the investigation was requested by Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon, who is responsible for public properties within the Office of the Prime Minister.
Pressure has been mounting over the case after The Sunday Times of Malta revealed that the government had bought half the ownership of a property in Old Mint Street for €1.65 million from Mark Gaffarena.
The government paid Mr Gaffarena €516,390 in cash and gave him different parcels of land in which the businessman had strategic and commercial interests. It is unclear whether the parcels of land included in the arrangement were chosen by Mr Gaffarena himself.
Initially, the government bought Mr Gaffarena’s one quarter ownership and then expropriated the second quarter a few weeks after the businessman bought it from a third party. The deal saw Mr Gaffarena make a profit of €685,000 in less than two months.
An independent valuation by architects of the land parcels given to Mr Gaffarena, which was commissioned by Times of Malta, showed that the land was undervalued by at least €1.6 million. This puts the real value of the deal in excess of €3 million.