Updated | Auditor General clears Jason Azzopardi of wrongdoing over expropriation allegations

Jason Azzopardi has been cleared of allegations that he had exerted influence to have government settle dues on expropriated land, which he was buying eight years ago.

The National Audit Office this evening published its findings after probing anonymous allegations made against Azzopardi when he was parliamentary secretary responsible for lands in 2010.

The allegations were made in January 2016 and given the detail contained in the anonymous letter, the NAO proceeded to investigate the case.

Azzopardi was accused of using his influence to expedite the process for the payment of dues for land that had been expropriated as part of the Home Ownership Scheme in Santa Luċija, back in the 1970s and 1980s.

At the same time, the former parliamentary secretary and his spouse had been negotiating the purchase of a house built on a portion of expropriated land. The settlement of dues on the expropriated land would have allowed the site owners to sell their property freehold and unencumbered.

In 2010, the government had settled payments for expropriated land in Santa Luċija and Għar Barka in Rabat. That same year, Azzopardi bought the property in Santa Luċija.

The NAO said that it did not uncover evidence suggesting “legislative, administrative or ethical irregularities” on the part of the former parliamentary secretary.

It said that the government property division had concluded the administrative and legal processes pertaining to all of the outstanding home ownership scheme plots in Santa Luċija, at the same time.

Azzopardi endorsed the transfer of expropriated land relating to various plots in this locality, upon which were built 64 houses, on 15 March 2010.

Just over a month later, Azzopardi, his spouse, the tenants of the plot and the housing authority signed a contract by which the land was transferred to the former parliamentary secretary.

Although the anonymous information was deemed to be mostly correct, the NAO said it failed to consider the historic, legal and administrative context that characterised the settlement of dues in these cases.

“All of these variables play a critical part in assessing whether the former parliamentary secretary influenced processes related to HOS for his own personal benefit. To this effect, this investigation did not reveal evidence to support the claims and implications made in the anonymous letter,” the NAO said.

However, the NAO did find shortcomings linked to the lack of policies and documentation in the processes adopted by the government property division.

Jason Azzopardi's reaction

In a reaction in Parliament today, Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi has said that he had been vindicated by the Auditor General's report, which had found he had done nothing wrong when he was Lands parliamentary secretary.

"Today an Auditor General report was published saying it found no legal, administrative or ethical illegalities committed by be," he said.

"These are the fascist tactics of the government against those uncovering corruption," he emphasised, calling whoever was behind the anonymous letter through which the allegations were made a "coward".

"No matter how much the government lies, it will not be successful, because we believe that, in the end, what is right emerges victorious, and it will be revealed how badly you lied," he said.