PN formally ask police to investigate Castille over Gaffarena deal

The Nationalist Party has formally asked the police commissioner to investigate Castille over its role in the expropriation of half a Valletta house from Mark Gaffarena.

“The day after the Auditor General’s report into the expropriation was published, the Prime Minister ordered the police to investigate the Lands Department, giving off the impression that a criminal investigation into the case had commenced,” PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami wrote in his letter to commissioner Michael Cassar. “That very same day, the Opposition requested that the police extend their investigations to Castille, where the deal was obviously hatched.

“Not only have you [Cassar] failed to react so far, but, as was revealed a few days ago, the police have not even started investigating the serious allegations that could have criminal consequences.

“If you fail to investigate the case, the Opposition is ready to take all possible legal action.”

Fenech Adami revealed his letter to the press while addressing a press conference outside the police headquarters in Floriana.

Citing the NAO report, the shadow home affairs minister said that the Lands Departments’ minutes when discussing the Strada Zekka expropriation were tampered with, and that the expropriation itself served no public purpose.

He argued that Gaffarena had held a meeting with former planning parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon, who subsequently sent one of his secretariat officials – Clint Scerri – to accompany him to the Lands Department.

“Moreover, the Lands Department lied to the Auditor General when it said that it only purchased two separate quarters of the house due to a shortage in funds, as it had enough money to buy the entire property. The entire deal was concluded in around two months, whereas expropriation negotiations usually drag on for years.”

He added that Lands Department officials had expressed “serious concerns” to Falzon about the expropriation deal and that the NAO had uncovered “collusion” between Gaffarena and the former parliamentary secretary. 

He cited the audit report as stating that the “determination of whether…the Criminal Code has been breached remains a complex legal matter outside of the mandate of the NAO.”