Deborah Schembri replaces Falzon, Muscat announces Lands Department reforms

Joseph Muscat: 'We have shouldered political responsability like nobody else'

Parliamentary secretary for lands Michael Falzon has resigned in the wake of a damning report by the National Audit Office that accused him of not safeguarding the government’s interest in expropriating a 50% stake of a Valletta property owned by Mark Gaffarena, the son of one-time Nationalist activist Joe Gaffarena.

Labour MP Deborah Schembri was announced as the replacement for the parliamentary secretariat, whose portfolio includes lands and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

In a press conference held at Castille shortly after the NAO published the report at 6:30pm, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he had accepted Falzon’s resignation, and described the NAO report as a “condemnation” on the Lands Department’s operations.

Muscat said that the operations at the Lands Department had now been stopped, and that all the NAO findings would be forwarded to the Attorney General for his review of whether any further action was required.

Muscat said the lands given to Gaffarena in the Old Mint Street expropriation deal will be taken back by government and he will be personally ask Court to annul the transections.

“This government is not stubborn. Since having been elected to power we are still finding big problems in public administration and rotten systems that were carried forward,” Muscat said.

Times have changed. The country has changed -JM #Malta

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) January 20, 2016

The prime minister did not fail to hit out at the Opposition in his opening salvo. “Nobody expects anything from the Opposition, because the public has given up on them, but they expect everything from us because they still trust us… this government will take all the action necessary.”

Muscat said his government took action to investigate the allegations in an independent manner, and that he and his Cabinet was ready to take decisions that “could even hurt the people around us, politically and personally.”

Muscat described Falzon as a loyal person and a man of integrity, and thanked him for his service to the government.

“Michael insists, and I have no reason to doubt him, that he did not interfere in this case. But Michael Falzon is a politician who knows the best way to defend his integrity and to have the government move forward… we both understood the way forward is for him to resign, which I accepted with immediate effective.

“Michael Falzon is showing the government knows times have changed, the country has changed, and is shouldering political responsibility… this prudent attitude raises political standards.”

Additionally, the Attorney General has been asked to look into the possibility of taking further action. The Police Commissioner has also been asked to increase surveillance and security at the Lands Department office in Valletta where sensitive documents pertaining to the case are held.

He also announced that the beleaguered Lands Department would be overhauled and become an authority.

“In the meantime, while all the necessary legal provisions are taken to clean up this mess, I have given instructions to immediately suspend the transfer of government-owned land by sale, rent or emphyteusis.”

Transfer of land which falls under existing or accepted schemes will however go ahead, “as long as they’re justified.” Payments deriving from rentals, emphyteusis and research will also be accepted as normal.

Judge Lawrence Quintano has been appointed to lead an interim board to oversee the transitional period. The board will also include tow experienced civil servants; Joseph Caruana and Nancy Caruana.

Moreover, a public consultation process will be launched in the coming days. This will be aimed at improving and modernising the management of land by an new “autonomous” authority which will have a governing body made up of representatives appointed by the opposition and “other entities.”

Muscat also said the IAID report – which delves into the Gaffarena expropriation and other cases - was being published in its entirety, adding that he now expects the NAO to carry out thorough investigations on the other cases.