‘Lands Commissioner forced to sign €4.2 million Café Premier bailout’

The resignation of Lands Commissioner Joe Bugeja was linked to his having been forced to accept a €4.2 million 'bailout' for the Café Premier owners, Opposition MP Ryan Callus said today.

In a press conference on the aftermath of Bugeja's departure from the Lands Department, Callus claimed that Bugeja "had to accept the Café Premier bailout" decided by the former Lands Commissioner, today a consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister, John Sciberras.

Sciberras negotiated the multi-million settlement with Cities Entertainment Ltd, for the government to buy back the 65-year lease to run Café Premier in Valletta.

"Bugeja's resignation is a sign of unacceptable political interference," Callus said.

"He is a very qualified civil servant... his resignation reflects an ugly political leadership that raises doubts on Joseph Muscat's talk about rewarding the government's best workers. It also shows a Lands Department in crisis."

Callus said that under Labour, the director-general of the Government Property Division was no longer the Lands Commissioner, and that Bugeja was forced to sign decisions that he was legally responsible for them.

"Yet Bugeja was excluded from important meetings and then made to sign decisions anyway. Is it because the government wanted the legal responsibility of these decision to fall on Bugeja? He is a victim of bad politics."

Callus also demanded the government to keep the Opposition informed about the Auditor General's inquiry into the Cafe Premier acquisiton.
In the letter signed last month by MPs Tonio Fenech, Claudio Grech, Kristy Debono, and Jason Azzopardi, the Nationalist Party said it wanted the Auditor General to investigate why €4.2 million was paid to Cities Entertainment to acquire the lease.

"We have not yet heard any official confirmation that the Auditor General is investigating it," Callus said. "The Opposition has a right to be kept updated." 

Callus also said that the Lands Department was forced to stop its court case on the revocation of the Australia Hall lease.

"The department's 1157 telephone service, to anonymously report illegalities, no longer exists. Now complaints of squatters are coming in at the PN headquarters."

"The Prime Minister called for national unity during last weekend's independence celebrations," Callus said. "Does he believe those words though? Time and time again, the government is creating a gap between those people who are close to them and those who aren't."