A Joint Office civil servant had included a sheet specifying the proceeds from the sale of government land in Spinola Bay in the file that went to then minister Jason Azzopardi for approval.

Responding to Dr Azzopardi’s claim that he had not been informed that the government was expected to get only €34.31 from the sale of 83, Spinola Road to 82 Limited, former Director-General of Lands Iman Schembri said a sheet indicating the exact figure had been prepared by Joint Office civil servant Vince Gilson and included in the file which ultimately went before the minister for approval.

However, he told the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee that the minutes made no mention of the figure and did not draw the minister’s attention to it. The presence of this sheet in the file was confirmed by an official from the Auditor General’s Office.

Mr Schembri also came prepared with a policy proposal dated May 26, 2011, where he had recommended that Joint Office land not be sold outright before the expiration of the term prescribed in the 1992 agreement, but issued under a revisable temporary emphyteusis. This proposal made explicit reference to the Spinola case, and even used it as a case-study by pointing out the low amount that the government would gain should the land be sold outright.

Prior to the adoption of this recommendation, there was no distinction between the disposal of Joint Office land and the disposal of government land.

The decision to sell the land outright had already been made when the policy was adopted, as the tender to this effect had been issued in 2010 with the authority of then-Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, responsible for the Lands Secretariat at the time.

After the buyer objected to a fresh tender, the original one was honoured.

Dr Azzopardi did not recall whether the policy had ever been brought to his attention, but did not rule out that it had, pointing out that it was not signed either by Dr Fenech or by himself.