[WATCH] ITS deal not signed, sealed and delivered, tourism minister insists

Hotelier Silvio Debono's plan to construct a Hard Rock Hotel on land currently occupied by the ITS is not a done deal, despite the fact that the Prime Minister has given the project his seal of approval, tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis insisted.

During a press conference, MaltaToday asked the minister why the government has already signed a deal with Debono for a project that forms part of a controversial proposed masterplan for Paceville that has not been approved.

"The fact that the Prime Minister launched the project doesn't mean that we have exonerated the successful bidder [Debono] from submitting applications to the Planning Authority and the Malta Tourism Authority," Zammit Lewis responded. "The institutes will analyse whether his application is in line with the relevant policies, and it is up to them whether to give him a permit or not.

"In what democratic country does the Prime Minister decide whether planning permits are issued or not? The government will allow the country's institutions to work in full liberty."

The deal, which was signed between the government and Debono’s DB Group in February, is controversial in that it only requires the hotelier to pay €15 million - €5 million up front – for the land that the Paceville masterplan had valued at €200 million.

When asked by MaltaToday whether the public got a good deal, Zammit Lewis that the valuations had been carried out by a trustworthy audit firm [Deloitte] and that he will await the results of a National Audit Office investigation into the deal before passing judgement.

The NAO investigation had been requested by the Opposition. 

Zammit Lewis however argued that Debono will ultimately pay far more for the project than €15 million through taxes, investment costs, and the salaries of some 1,500 workers who will be employed there.

He also argued that the price per square metre for the ITS land is some 4000 times higher than the one that the previous Nationalist administration had negotiated for the sale of the Smart City land, and that the deal imposed conditions on Debono that were non-existent in other concessions, such as the sale of Fort Rinella.

Zammit Lewis was addressing a press conference at the Labour headquarters, during which he pressured Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to publish the invoices he said the PN had issued to DB Group for €70,800 booked for advertising to the party’s media arm MediaLink.

He also hit out at Busuttil’s recent statement that the PN will not return the funds given to it by Debono because the transactions were ultimately legal.

“How can Busuttil choose to keep money that, by his own claim, is dirty?” he asked. “The money laundering law prohibits people from keeping money or property that they know or suspect had originated from criminal activities. Is Busuttil in breach of the money laundering law?”

Labour MP Luciano Busuttil lambasted Busuttil as a “false” leader, arguing that he had personally set up a system that allegedly saw Debono secretly funding the salaries of the PN’s secretary general and CEO via payments to MediaLink.

“The people are expecting him to publish MediaLink’s invoices with DB and to come clean on whether other businessmen are paying the salaries of PN officials,” he said. “His silence speaks volumes and raises more doubts.”