PL, PN mum on whether Villa Rosa developer donated money

The Labour and Nationalist parties are refusing to say whether they received any donations from Villa Rosa developer Anton Camilleri or his companies.

As controversy swirls around the government decision to review the local plan for the Villa Rosa site, the two major parties are being scarce with information.

The Labour Party referred MaltaToday to its official donation reports filed with the Electoral Commission, insisting it does not accept donations which carry a condition. The Nationalist Party simply ignored this newspaper’s questions and did not answer.

MaltaToday asked both parties whether they received any donations from Camilleri, known as il-Franċiż, or companies he controls such as Garnet Investments, over the past 12 months. If a donation was forthcoming; when it was made, what the amount was and whether a receipt was issued. The newspaper also asked whether Camilleri placed any conditions on his donation and whether he made the donation voluntarily or whether it was solicited by the party or any of its officials.

PN in deafening silence

The PN did not reply to any of the questions. Eyewitnesses have told MaltaToday that Camilleri was present at party headquarters for meetings with Bernard Grech before the whole Villa Rosa controversy erupted in public. MaltaToday is not privy to what was discussed and Grech has refused to confirm the meetings took place.

In parliament last week, Planning Minister Clint Camilleri acknowledged he met the developer and during the meeting Anton Camilleri told him that he had just come from a meeting with Grech, who purportedly told him [the developer] that he agreed with the project and was looking forward to inaugurate it himself when he becomes prime minister.

For the past couple of years, the PN has failed to file its accounts and donation reports with the Electoral Commission despite being obliged to do so at law.

Ironically, several PN MPs, including Karol Aquilina, Graham Bencini, Albert Buttigieg, Stanley Zammit and Rebekah Borg joined the protest against the Villa Rosa project organised by environmental organisations on Saturday. Swieqi Nationalist Mayor Noel Muscat also addressed the crowd.

PL hides behind donation report

Meanwhile, in a dry reply to MaltaToday, a PL spokesperson said: “As stipulated by law, the Labour Party sends, every year, a statement of the donations it receives to the Electoral Commission; a legal requirement which the Nationalist Party has blatantly breached for the past two years. The reports of the Labour Party donations are in the public domain. The donations received by the PL result from this document. The Labour Party does not accept any donations which carry a condition.”

The latest declaration sourced from the Electoral Commission’s website shows that the PL received €1.3 million in donations from 19,691 donors in 2023.

None of the individual donations exceeded €7,000 and so the party has no obligation to identify the source. Just over €900,000 were donations ranging between €500 and €7,000, made by 379 donors. According to the law the party is obliged to keep records of who made these donations but has no obligation to divulge the source.

The rest of the donations, amounting to a total of €388,000, came from 19,312 donors, who donated amounts less than €500. The party has no obligation to keep records of individual donors in this case.

The PL spokesperson did not say whether Camilleri made any donations of whatever size over the past 12 months.

So far, Prime Minister Robert Abela has refused to say whether he personally met Anton Camilleri with Castille only confirming that ‘government’ did meet with the developer as was customary in projects of this size.

The developer himself on Friday penned an opinion in which he confirmed that he had talks with the ‘authorities’ and the need to change the Villa Rosa local plan arose during meetings with the Planning Authority.

Anton Camilleri denied accusations made by environmental activists that the PA’s objectives for the review were made by his own architect.

READ ALSO: Villa Rosa developer met ‘government’, but did he meet Robert Abela?

Cassola requests documentation

Meanwhile, independent election candidate Arnold Cassola has filed a freedom of information request with the Planning Authority, seeking documentation linked to the Villa Rosa local plan changes.

Cassola is asking for copies of the PA’s executive council meeting minutes and any written communications from minister Clint Camilleri to be made available.

Anton Camilleri already has a permit issued in 2018 to build a mixed-use development on the Villa Rosa site, which he owns, in St George’s Bay. However, he wants to submit fresh plans that would see the construction of two towers thus going higher instead of having buildings sprawling all over the site.

Technically, Camilleri does not need to have the local plan changed to move ahead with the new application since the hotels height policy from 2014 allows him to build higher. However, with the local plan for the site setting certain parameters the potential conflict in interpretation between the 2014 policy and the local plan could be used as a ground for appeal by activists opposed to the project.

In several instances the court has ordered the withdrawal of building permits, arguing that the local plan supersedes any policy that may be incongruent with it.

Activists argue that the review of the Villa Rosa local plan is only intended to give Camilleri legal certainty that any development permit will not be able to be challenged on conflicting policy grounds.

READ ALSO: Cabinet’s Villa Rosa kowtow indicates its priority ‘is not the common good,’ ADPD says