Attard homeowner found guilty in other usurpation cases

One of the tenants whose Attard home may be set for demolition by order of a court judgement against developers Lay Lay Co. Ltd., is the self-same person who sold the same property to its beleaguered tenants and is also in two other similar cases of misappropriated land.

Jimmy Fsadni bought a number of plots from Lay Lay in the Ta' Rmiedi area of Attard, whose 11 residences were ordered for demolition by Judge Silvio Meli, after he decreed that the houses were built on land Lay Lay usurped from the late Noble Francis Manduca and his heirs.

Fsadni, held by the court to be 25% responsible for the usurpation, had sold the land to his neighbours and eventually decided to build his own family home on one of the plots.

But it was indeed a tale of the unexpected when Fsadni was the only person to express his dismay to The Times at the judgement, and anxiety over the prospect of having to lose his home.

63-year-old Fsadni omitted mentioning his friendship with Lay Lay owner Michael Axisa back in the 1980s, and that he had acquired and sold the Attard plots to his neighbours.

He insisted that he bought the property in "good faith" and that anything illegal should have been flagged by the notary in the first place. "It's always the little guy who has to pay," Fsadni said, albeit his lament does carry a small dose of hypocrisy.

Fsdani owns construction company Darkar Construction, and he is currently appealing a 2008 judgement handed by Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi, ordering him to pay €44,378 back to the Penza family of Luqa, for having built maisonettes and garages on their land in Ta' Gonzales, in Luqa, without having any legal title to it.

He eventually sold the property to six couples.

Much like the Attard case, Fsadni claimed to have bought the land in "good faith" from Andrew Penza, a relative of the plaintiffs.

Penza was found to have sold not only his share of his father's inheritance, a wider area that also belonged to his siblings which he said was a 'passageway' leading to nearby plots of land.

The preposterousness of his claim was given short shrift by Judge Azzopardi, who said there was no way Penza did not know the land he was selling was not his, having been present during its apportionment by the notary.

Turning to Fsadni and his company Darkar, Azzopardi held him equally responsible for usurping the land, constructing it and selling off properties to third parties, who like in Attard, had been called into the case.

All six couples who bought homes from Fsadni, ended up as the defendants in the case - which was instituted by the aggrieved Penzas - and worse still, discovered that the notary provided for each of their deeds, Pierre Falzon, was being prosecuted for fraud in the criminal courts, for allegedly misappropriating stamp duty that was payable to the government.

No permit

Jimmy Fsadni's past as a cowboy builder was also highlighted in 2005 in a court sentence by Judge Philip Sciberras, which found he had built and sold a maisonette and garage in the Ta' Lixat area of Attard, without any permits from the Malta Planning and Environment Authority.

The case was filed against Fsadni by Mary Micallef, who claimed she was shocked to learn that her house was not covered by a MEPA permit, when she was served with an enforcement notice.

Fsadni however was saved by the bell halfway through the proceedings, when MEPA issued a revised policy for the area, and sanctioned the building.

Labour MP Charles Buhagiar was the architect engaged by Fsadni to deal with MEPA and obtain the necessary permits.

But in his judgment, Judge Sciberras still found Fsadni guilty of constructing a property without having the necessary permits.

A line of defence straight out of the Neolithic

"If only my Court had to accept your line of defence, it would simply be setting the clock backwards to Neolithic Malta. It's disgusting, and I'm definitely ignoring it," Mr Justice Silvio Meli said in handing down judgment condemning Michael Axisa of Lay Lay, for having taken over land in Attard which was never his, and fraudulently making money by selling it off in plots to friends, speculators and prospective homeowners.

Meli's judgment drew nationwide awe as he ordered Axisa to demolish the 11 households which were since built on land he stole from the late Noble Francis Manduca, and heirs Joseph and Anthony Manduca.

But beyond the evidence which established that Axisa had in fact taken over the land, it was his own admission by default which led the Court to take such a harsh stand in his regard.

When giving evidence during the proceedings in a suit which lasted 27 years - prompting the Court to remark on its "shameful" delay - in his defence Axisa said that "if third parties are now on Manduca's land, it was nobody else's but his [Manduca] fault because he failed to protect it."

This line of defence clearly irked Judge Meli, who expressed incredulity and "disgust" at Axisa's "Neolithic arrogance".

Passing judgment, ordering Axisa to demolish the houses within six months, and granting the right to the Manducas to do it themselves at Axisa's cost if he doesn't comply with the order, Meli took yet another swipe at the defendant by stating that "this arrogant and unprofessional attitude where a developer invades third party property must never be condoned by any civil society, and all action must be taken to ensure it is never tolerated."

In their case against Axisa, the Manducas had also sued the tenants of the properties which have since been built on their land in the area known as Ta' Rmiedi, in Attard.

James sive Jimmy Fsadni, Mary Vassallo, David Fenech, John Fenech, John Bellizzi, Joseph Falzon, Mario Abela, Francis and Janie Giudice, Filomena Azzopardi, Anthony Bezzina and George Vella all face eviction from their homes, despite them claiming to have a title over the land they bought.

The Court delved into each and every single submission by the defendants, themselves accused of invading private land.

And the findings were quite revealing. David Fenech declared that he had bought his parcel of land from Anglu Xuereb's Hard Rocks Ltd in February 1986, and registered his deed with Notary Anthony Attard.

John Fenech declared that he had "certification of absolute title" of the land from Michael Axisa himself, while Anthony Bezzina claimed to have bought his parcel of land from his neighbour Jimmy Fsadni and registered the deed in March 1986 with former PN candidate from Qormi, Notary Antoine Agius, who is currently facing criminal charges in court for the alleged falsification of a dead man's will.