Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1348867
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 10 MARCH 2021 NEWS NICOLE MEILAK A new asset retaining facility forming the Asset Recovery Bureau (ARB) will be set up in Malta through a €2.5 million government investment, to help preserve high-value as- sets seized by law enforcement. ARB CEO Kenneth John Camilleri said that the bureau receives several high-val- ue assets, and in turn, the bureau requires the special facilities and expertise needed to maintain them. To facilitate this, the premises will house cars, jewellery, boats, and other assets re- covered by the court during criminal pro- ceedings for proper conservation. If the police force loses a case against a suspected criminal whose assets have been seized, the assets will have to be given back in optimum condition. The facility would aim to ensure that the asset's original con- dition is fully preserved. On the other hand, if the case is won and the court decides that the assets can be re- tained, the assets can be auctioned for their original value while the funds are integrated in government. "These items need conservation," Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis explained. "By the time criminal proceedings finish, their value will diminish, and if the person is liberated they can open a case against gov- ernment or ARB because the assets weren't preserved." A security structure will be in place for the retention of trucks, containers, boats and cars, and a separate area will hold jewellery and diamonds. Paintings will be housed in a specialised area, as they require a positive pressure chamber. Government is aiming to have this facil- ity up and running within the next two or three years, with possible plans to obtain EU funding, which would see the invest- ment extened to around €6 million. The Minister said that, for the time being, asset recovery's primary focus is to ensure successful judicial sales, where the full price of the sale is received by government. Once this is successful, Zammit Lewis said that the ministry could look to intro- duce further legal concepts relating to Un- explained Wealth Orders. New asset facility will preserve high- value items recovered by law enforcement JAMES DEBONO BALZAN residents are facing the onslaught of a massive apart- ment block that will increase population density in their quite neighbourhood, now advertised online even before they had the chance to see plans and present their objections. The J Portelli Projects apart- ments, which are developed by Mercury House owner and Hamrun FC president Joseph Portelli, are already being sold as shell apartments at prices start- ing at €155,000. Visuals accompanying the ad- vert indicate the addition of new floors with the new building consisting of a ground-floor set to include shops, three overlying storeys and a penthouse level. A video posted on social media by the company refers to 90 new residential apartments. But a planning application covering the entire area pres- ently occupied by the aban- doned Dolphin Centre in Triq il-Kbira, presented in December (8693/20) is still listed by the Planning Authority website as being incomplete as it has "not been fully submitted". But the so-called Park Lane apartments are already being advertised by J Portelli Projects as "new luxury condominium building" of 90 residential apart- ments, in partnership with CF Developers. "Inspired by the traditional Maltese village core, the project offers a natural lime- stone façade with distinctive traditional balconies in wrought iron complimented by patios and gardens," reads their tagline. Despite the absence of any de- velopment permit the "develop- ment is being sold on plan, with move-ins scheduled for Winter 2023". The advert states that the de- velopment will consist of large two- and three-bedroom apart- ments, with large balconies, and will include retail and grocery outlets, a communal pool, gym, private pools and steam or sauna rooms. A previous application submit- ted by Patricia Apap Bologna in 2019 has been withdrawn. The application foresaw internal and external alterations to two exist- ing blocks and a part extension on second floor for office devel- opment. The Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage had expressed concern on overbearing volumes the application would create on Main Street, as it faces an Ur- ban Conservation Area, and it warned against unsightly blank party walls on the buildings on Papa Piju XII Street which, even though not within UCA, still consists of an intact stretch of two storey houses. In 2014 the PA had already ap- proved an application by Mark Bianchi for internal alterations and for a café with outside tables at ground floor level. Portelli selling Balzan apartments before application is even validated Joseph Portelli is promoting the Park Lane apartments for sale starting at €155,000 for a shell