Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1345126
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS The Planning Authority is proposing to add a new category to the Development Notification Order. The new category (Class 24) will cover development which relates to Urban greening projects by Government agencies, Local Councils and other entities appointed thereby. (i) The formation of greening projects within the development zones indicated in the respective Local Plans. (ii) Installation of playing equipment within greening projects. (iii) Vertical structures, which may be accessible, forming part of the greening project. (iv) Excavation of underground reservoirs intended for the irrigation of the proposed vegetation and other related uses to the greening project. (v) Formation of green projects including on schemed roads and public open spaces. (vi) Taking up of existing surface and resurfacing with materials such as permeable paving blocks. (vii) Installation of flooring systems. (viii) Installation of vertical greening structures, including against public buildings or government owned residential blocks, but excluding buildings which are scheduled or located within scheduled areas. (ix) Installation of features and structures for the purpose of the greening project. (x) Uprooting, transplanting, and planting of trees, including the related irrigation systems. The full proposal may be viewed from the Authority's website; www.pa.org.mt/consultation The Authority invites the public and interested stakeholders to submit their representation through email address dno@pa.org.mt Submissions must reach the Authority by Thursday 11th March 2021. www.pa.org.mt PLANNING AUTHORITY HAVE YOUR SAY OPEN PUBLIC CONSULTATION Development Notification (Amendment) Order, 2021 Dalligate Court says evidence cannot be closed MATTHEW AGIUS THE Constitutional Court has reversed a court's decision to force the closure of the evidence against former John Dalli can- vasser Silvio Zammit and or- dered the Attorney General to pay Zammit €2,000 in compen- sation for delays in concluding the case against him. Zammit, who was charged in 2012 with trading in influence and complicity in the alleged re- quest of a €60 million bribe from a Swedish tobacco company, had accused the Attorney General of ignoring the Constitutional Court and dragging his feet by refusing to declare his evidence closed in the legal saga that fol- lowed. This meant that the case could not progress to the subsequent trial stage. The attempted bribery had cost former European commissioner John Dalli his place in the Brus- sels executive in 2012. Zammit had been a canvasser for Dalli at one point. But an EU anti-fraud investigation by OLAF had found circumstantial evidence that Zammit was calling Dalli on the phone in between conversa- tions with snus producer Swed- ish Match and the European smokeless tobacco lobby Estoc. Zammit had been approached by an Estoc consultant, Maltese lawyer Gayle Kimberley, to ob- tain access to Dalli in a bid to lift a retail ban on snus, a chewable form of tobacco. Dalli was inves- tigated but never charged by the police in Malta. He has denied any wrongdoing. In April, after Zammit sought recourse in the Constitutional Court due to the inordinate delay in declaring the evidence closed, the court ordered the criminal proceedings to continue. The Attorney General had filed an appeal, which was denied. The acts of the case were sent back to the magistrates' court to continue being heard, but had to be reassigned to a new mag- istrate, after the presiding mag- istrate was promoted to judge. This led to more delays. Last October, the First Hall of the Civil Court declared that all this meant that Zammit's rights were breached, and ordered the compilation of evidence against the businessman to be closed. But the Attorney General filed an appeal to this judgment, argu- ing that Zammit contributed to the delays by refusing to provide a voice sample when requested. In a judgment handed down on Thursday, the Constitutional Court presided by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, Mr Justice Gi- annino Caruana Demajo and Mr Justice Anthony Ellul, declared that the delays which continued after the Constitutional Court's ruling should not have led to the order that the Court of Magis- trates as a court of criminal in- quiry declare the prosecution's evidence closed – this when considering that the proof the prosecution needed to present hadn't been collected due to the plaintiff's refusal to give a voice sample. "It is true that this means there is more delay to close the pros- ecutions' evidence, but after the decree of 21 March 2019, there is also delay because of the plain- tiff's refusal. "It is now up to the Court of Magistrates as a court of criminal inquiry to decide on how it will proceed, in view of the fact that the plaintiff is refusing to give a voice sample, invoking his right to silence." The AG had declared in Janu- ary 2019 that he had further evi- dence to produce. Therefore the Court of Magistrates could not ask the accused if he wished his case to be tried summarily, said the judges. The court ordered non-pecuni- ary damages at €2,000 for the de- lays incurred between July 2018 and March 2019. It overturned the part of the judgment which ordered the Court of Magistrates to de- clare the prosecution's evidence closed, and denied the request to immediately declare the ev- idence closed. The judges also ordered the Registrar of Courts to immediately send a legal copy of this judgment to the court of magistrates hearing the compi- lation of evidence against Silvio Zammit. Zammit is represented by law- yers Edward Gatt and Kris Bus- ietta. Earlier this week, the European Union's court of justice reject- ed a claim by former European Commissioner John Dalli for €1 million in damages caused by what he said was "unlawful con- duct" by the European Commis- sion as a result of the termination of his office. In 2015, the General Court had already dismissed an action by Dalli to annul the 'oral decision' of his 2012 termination from office as well as turning down his claim for €1.9 million in material damages. The ECJ then dismissed an appeal in 2016. Constitutional Court reverses decision to force closure of evidence against Dalligate suspect Silvio Zammit over alleged tobacco bribery case Silvio Zammit was a canvasser for John Dalli (inset)