‘Give us back our property’, owner of requisitioned home tells Labour leader

Grech’s appeal comes in the wake of a decision by the Constitutional court to award Philip Grech and his family €60,000 in compensation from government, for the illegal requisition of his property in Santa Venera in 1967 by a Nationalist government.

While reducing the damages by €15,000, the court confirmed the illegality of the requisition of private property for its use as a party club, which the Labour government gave to the party in 1973.

But Grech is not aggrieved by the reduction in compensation – for him “this is not a question of money, but of principle.”

The Grechs are now pursuing the eviction of the Labour Party from its club through another court case. “We are hoping the court will decide to evict them but if not we will continue to fight for justice even if we have to go to the European Court.”

He warns that the damages awarded by the European Court of Human Rights would be even higher than those imposed by the Maltese court.

But Grech is willing to drop this case if Labour returns the property or agrees to purchase it. “My advice to the Labour Party is to return the premises amicably or else come to an agreement to purchase the property and save the taxpayer’s money… If this happens we will drop all court actions.”

Grech is however also insisting the club be returned in the same condition the party found it before its requisition by the Labour government back in 1973.

Grech has already approached Muscaton the matter. On his part, the Labour leader appointed deputy leader for party affairs Toni Abelaand PL president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi to meet up with them.

“But unfortunately the meeting never took place,” Grech says.

Asked whether Labour intends returning the property following the Constitutional court sentence, a PL spokesperson said the courts had not made any further pronouncement apart from ordering government compensation.

Grech firmly believes that until the PL comes clean on cases like the requisition of his family’s property it will not win the trust of floating voters. “Unfortunately the Labour Party is still suffering the sins of the father and until they come clean they will lose the chance of being in government.”