Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1389773
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 JULY 2021 NEWS JAMES DEBONO THE Planning Authority has no intention of holding an internal inquiry after court sentence or- dered it to fork out €331,295 in compensation for discrimina- tion of landowners, over a Lidl supermarket permit in Luqa awarded to construction mag- nate Charles Polidano in 2006. The court found that the Cutajar family had been re- peatedly denied permission by the PA to build a garden centre on the same land, outside de- velopment zones. However, after Polidano ac- quired the tract of land at a knock-off price as a result of its undevelopable status, the mag- nate was then granted a permit to build a supermarket, even despite objections by the Civ- il Aviation Department due to nearby aviation security con- cerns. A PA spokesperson told Mal- taToday the case had already been investigated in 2009, when asked whether an inquiry should now establish respon- sibility for the 2006 decision. "Investigations and an inquiry with regards to Lidl Supermar- ket permit had been conduct- ed and concluded way back in 2009 and there is no reason whatsoever to reopen these in- vestigations." The PA said the latest court judgement "did not dwell in the validity or otherwise of the Lidl Supermarket permit". The PA has yet to decide whether to appeal the court's decision ordering it to pay €331,295 in compensation. The authority is "still examin- ing this decision and is within the legal timeframe to appeal the decision by the court," a PA spokesperson said. According to a Times report, the police are reviewing the court judge- ment when asked whether a corruption probe would take place. 2009 investigation The case had initially been in- vestigated by the PA's former internal auditor Joe Falzon, who way back in 2009 had called for disciplinary action against employees of the PA's planning directorate who ap- proved the Polidano supermar- ket. Falzon, since then vindicat- ed by the court sentence, had called on the PA to refer the case for investigation of "pos- sible criminal responsibility" over what he called "a gross ir- regularity". The case was instead re- ferred to an internal inquiry board composed of PA board members Joe Tabone Jacono, Charles Bonnici and Joseph Farrugia. The inquiry centred on the role of case officer Norbert Gerada and then team manager Silvio Farrugia, whom the panel interviewed. The investigation revealed that the directorate had asked for guidance from the PA board in a closed meet- ing held before recommending the project for approval. Although the PA board had been "positively inclined to- wards the project", it did so on the basis of plans which did not correspond to the approved project. It emerged that in his meet- ing with the PA board, Silvio Farrugia recommended the demolition of a garage so as to move the supermarket build- ing 10.3m beyond the existing building line. But the PA board established that the final drawings ap- proved by the development control commission showed the new building extending 23.5m from the building line. "Did the directorate have the right to recommend the ap- proval of a layout so different from the one presented to the MEPA board without going back to the MEPA board?" asked the board of inquiry. The PA is now sticking to the absolution of Silvio Farrugia, who now leads the PA's Devel- opment Management Directo- rate, which is also responsible for the assessment of major projects like the DB group's City Centre project approved last month. "The Inquiry did not impose any disciplinary actions against the Case Officer and the Team Manager, but recommended that officials should follow new procedures when it comes to presentations made by the Di- rectorate to the Board. Today procedures of both the Plan- ning Commissions and Plan- ning Board are well regulated by Law and regulations," the PA spokesperson told Malta- Today this week. The 2009 inquiry failed to es- tablish why three permits on the same plot of land were pre- viously refused while the Lidl supermarket was approved. An incredulous Joe Falzon had reacted by reiterating his claim that the original applicant was "discriminated against"; yet the inquiry concluded that no discrimination took place, as no buildings were foreseen on this part of the site in the Lidl permit. Falzon had pointed out that the permit to Polidano envis- aged development on an even greater area than in the pre- vious permits. "In three cases, they interpreted the policies correctly to turn down the application. How come these same policies were interpreted differently in this case?" Falzon asked back in 2009. "I am not saying that there was corrup- tion. I am simply saying that this case should be investigat- ed as there is enough evidence that policies have not been abided to." The PA officials were never punished for their favoura- ble recommendation; and the same PA officer had also been censored for a favourable rec- ommendation for a residential development in Kappara inves- tigated by Joe Falzon. Immediately following the change in government in 2013, Silvio Farrugia, a close collab- orator of the newly-appointed PA CEO Johann Buttigieg, was promoted as the planning di- rectorate's new deputy director following an internal call. Government sources had claimed Farrugia had been turned into a scapegoat for de- cisions taken at higher levels under the previous administra- tion. Planning Authority rules out inquiry on 2009 decision to green-light illegal permit for Lidl supermarket that has now resulted in €331,000 compensation to previous landowners over discrimination No inquiry on Lidl permit that cost €331,000 in penalties 2008: then PA employee Carmel Cacopardo released the internal audit report that found gross irregularity on the Polidano permit, in a press conference with Alternattiva Demokratika