AD urges government to investigate Malta-Gaddafi link

Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) called on the government to investigate claims by the Italian press which have linked a Gaddafi property that was seized yesterday in Italy to a Maltese company.

AD spokesperson on EU and International Affairs, Arnold Cassola, said: "On 16 May the Italian government has seized a hotel complex and land on the island of Pantelleria, worth about €20 million and belonging to the family of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi."

He explained that Italian public TV station Rai Uno has reported that this property was linked to an unnamed Maltese company. 

A number of Italian newspapers and TV stations reported that the tourist village 'Punta Tre Pietre' is well known on the little island  in the Strait of Sicily and belongs to a Maltese company with is linked to the former Rais.

 "The Maltese Foreign Minister should immediately contact his Italian counterpart to ensure that Maltese interests are defended but also to ensure that Maltese companies have not been involved in any wrongdoings with the Libyan dictator," he said.

Cassola added "The Maltese people deserve to know whether the good name of our country is being rightly or wrongly tainted abroad".

The complex which was referred to as 'Gaddafi's hotel' by the islanders has been closed since the 1980's.

The seizure was issued by the Rome Court of Appeals last March when Italian financial police confiscated €1.3 billion in assets belonging to the ex-Libyan ruler, his son Saif Al Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah Al Senussi.

All of Gaddafì's known assets were frozen following two UN resolutions passed in February and March of 2011, early in the leader's bloody campaign to quell a popular uprising that led to his overthrow and death last October at the hand of insurgents.