Former minister says government must publish Café Premier valuation

The former Nationalist minister under whose watch court action was taken against the Café Premiere owners for defaulting on rents owed to the government, wants the government to publish the workings of its €4.2 million 'amicable' acquisition of the Valletta café's 65-year emphyteusis.

Jason Azzopardi, the former minister for lands, said the government must "come clean and publish all the workings" on a €4.2 million payment to Cities Entertainment Limited, to vacate Café Premiere, after choosing to stop the court action against the company to pay some €200,000 in arrears.

The payments was used to settle all outstanding income tax and VAT dues, energy bills and capital gains tax for the State, and a further €2.5 million balance on loans taken out with Banif Bank.

Under Azzopardi, the Lands Department initiated court action in December 2012 when Cities Entertainment accumulated over €200,000 arrears in ground rent.

"At the time the Lands Department was under my direct political responsibility. I always insisted that judicial action be undertaken to recover dues without fear or favour. In some cases, we even asked the court to rescind the emphyteutical deed due to the non-payment of the ground rent," Azzopardi told MaltaToday. 

Read the full report in MaltaToday.