Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1076517
24 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 JANUARY 2019 YANNICK PACE AN inquiring magistrate has turned down a fresh request by former PN leader Simon Busut- til and MEP David Casa ask- ing for an inquiry into possible money laundering revealed by the Daphne Project consortium last year. The ruling comes after an Appeals Court rejected an in- quiry into the Panama Papers revelations earlier this month. Busuttil and Casa filed their request in April last year, shortly after the Daphne Pro- ject – a consortium of jour- nalists from around the world – published details showing that the Dubai-company 17 Black had received €1.3 mil- lion from a Seychelles compa- ny owned by an Azeri national and another company asso- ciated with the LNG tanker berthed at Delimara. Magistrate Francesco De- pasquale had ruled last year that there existed legal pre- requisites for an inquiry but noted that the facts outlined in the application had already been presented before inquir- ing Magistrate Ian Farrugia shortly after the 2017 election when Busuttil requested an inquiry into the Panama Pa- pers. Depasquale said that the documents and information supplied by Casa and Busuttil should be transferred to that case. Magistrate Ian Farrugia ruled in 2017 that there was enough evidence for an inquiry into the Panama Papers but pro- ceedings stopped because the decision was appealed by Jo- seph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Adrian Hillman, Karl Cini, Malcolm Scerri, and Brian Tonna. In another ruling earlier this month Judge Giovanni Grixti upheld the appeal and threw out the request for an inves- tigation into the Panama Pa- pers. Following Judge Grixti's decision, Busuttil and Casa attempted to revive their original request for an inves- tigation into the 17 Black rev- elations made by the Daphne Project in April last year. In their court application the pair argued that their request for a probe into the Daphne Project findings was now in "legal limbo". "We are now in a situation where this court's decree on the 21 May 2018 is in legal and judicial limbo, neither alive nor dead, and must be given autonomous legal/ju- dicial existence, independent from Magistrate Ian Farru- gia's decree (which has now been revoked)," Busuttil and Casa argued. They stressed that the court had previously said that there "appeared to exist" the "pre- requisites required at law" for an investigation. However, in his decree yes- terday, Magistrate Depasquale said that "contrary to what the [Busuttil and Casa] stated in their application", there is no legal and judicial limbo and that there was no need for his previous decree to be "given autonomous legal/judicial ex- istence". The courts decision, he said, was final, given that it had not been appealed at the time. In a reaction, the govern- ment emphasised the fact that the court had said there was no legal limbo and the deci- sion was final. It said that Busuttil and Casa had again requested an inves- tigation "despite the fact that the court had made it clear, through other decisions, that the allegations made were conjecture and that there was no basis for an inquiry". ypace@mediatoday.com.mt Court rejects Busuttil's and Casa's attempt to revive call for inquiry into Daphne Project revelations A court has thrown out a request to revive a call for an inquiry into revelations made by a consortium of international journalists last year that published correspondence showing €1.3 million had been transferred to 17 Black JAMES DEBONO THE Corinthia Group has applied to renew a permit for the redevelopment of the Hal Ferh holiday vil- lage in Ghajn Tuffieha is- sued in 2013, which was set to expire in July. Island Hotels acquired the perpetual emphyteu- sis over Ħal Ferh for €12 million following a pub- lic tender issued by the government in March 2010. Island Hotels was acquired by IHI in July 2015. The proposed vaca- tion resort will include a total of 228 units with ancillary facilities in- cluding a restaurant, a convenience shop, pools and bars, spa and under- ground parking facilities with a total of 293 park- ing spaces and a surface carpark for 330 cars on part of the campsite. The Ghajn Tuffieha Military Camp dates back to the late 19th century. By 1910, a for- mal military camp was in place consisting of tim- ber 'Crimea Huts' which were later replaced with more permanent ma- sonry replacements, in- cluding a camp chapel, which was completed in 1916. Throughout the im- mediate post-war years up to the late 1960s, the Ghajn Tuffieha Camp represented one of the busiest spots on the is- land for military train- ing for both British and NATO forces. In the late 1970s the lower camp was con- verted into the Hal Ferh tourism village owned by Airmalta. The bar- racks will be demolished to accommodate the new development but a historic chapel and cin- ema will be restored. Corinthia applies to renew permit for Hal Ferh project David Casa and Simon Busuttil outside the law courts back in April 2018