Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1178700
NEWS 8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 OCTOBER 2019 MATTHEW AGIUS ONE of the men accused of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has given the authorities 24 hours to ex- hibit the phone tap recordings and tran- scripts which led to his arrest, threaten- ing further court action if they fail to do so. George Degiorgio's lawyer, William Cuschieri - who is also lawyer to Al- fred Degiorgio - made the demand in a judicial letter filed this morning. In it, he refers to the judicial protest filed by the Degiorgio brothers in Au- gust - the reply in which he was ad- vised to raise the issue of the phone intercepts as a preliminary plea before the Criminal Court - and to the Con- stitutional case he filed on 9 October. Both the judicial protest and Consti- tutional case revolve around the issue of the phone taps. "As, despite all the requests made by the plaintiff, you have still not pro- duced the alleged recordings and their transcripts under oath and accom- panied by the warrants which should have authorised them, you are acting in flagrant breach of the law which you are supposed to safeguard," reads the application. This would be the last warning, reads the letter, which was addressed to the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police and the Head of the Secu- rity Services. Failure to comply would mean that Degiorgio would proceed against them without further notice. Last week, the Constitutional Court refused to grant an interim measure to George Degiorgio that would have suspended the criminal proceedings against him. Degiorgio had asked the court to suspend criminal proceedings pending the outcome of the wiretap case. George Degiorgio, his brother Alfred Degiorgio, and Vince Muscat stand accused of preparing, planting and detonating the car bomb that killed Caruana Galizia two years ago. George Degiorgio gives police 24- hour deadline to exhibit phone taps Brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio JAMES DEBONO A 3,570sq.m abandoned agricul- tural field along Hal Far Road in the Tal-Papa area in Birzebbugia is being proposed as a boatyard, in an application presented by site owner Carmelo Sacco. The application, presented by architect Charles Buhagiar, a former Labour MP and present chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council, will see the replacement of the existing soil by a stretch of concrete flooring. Aerial photos confirm the site was entirely agricultural before 2012. Subsequently the site was cleared and vehicles started park- ing on it as confirmed by the Planning Authority's aerial pho- tos taken in 2016. Palm trees were also planted along the road. No planning application has ev- er been presented on this site in the past. The proposed boatyard lies op- posite the former Caribbean bar, which has been transformed into the Avalon nightclub following a permit issued in 2015. The boatyard is being proposed on a site adjacent to a proposed petrol station. The latter applica- tion, presented by Michael Zam- mit, envisages the relocation of a single petrol pump in Rabat, Gozo to the 3,000sq.m field. This appli- cation stands no chance of being approved under the new planning policy regulating petrol stations which is awaiting final approval. The policy will apply to all pend- ing applications. Massive boatyard proposed at Tal-Papa along Hal Far road The abandoned agricultural field along Hal Far Road