Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1419860
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 OCTOBER 2021 NEWS Thank you... for having bought this newspaper mt The good news is that we're not raising the price of our newspaper We know times are still hard, but we have pledged to keep giving our readers quality news they deserve, without making you pay more for it. So thank you, for making it your MaltaToday Support your favourite newspaper with a special offer on online PDF subscriptions. Visit bit.ly/2X9csmr or scan the QR code Subscriptions can be done online on agendabookshop.com Same-day delivery at €1 for orders up to 5 newspapers per address. Subscribe from €1.15 a week Same-day print delivery from Miller Distributors CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 But Archbishop Charles Sci- cluna is refusing to answer ques- tions from MaltaToday over his consent to appoint Peter Valentino as the Abbazia's rec- tor, citing ongoing cases being sub judice. In the meantime, Valentino is fronting legal cases against residents in Qala to register the lands under the ownership of Carravan – the company owned by the Stagno Navarras, Monte- bello and Galea. On his part, Valentino is re- fusing to explain to MaltaToday how the heirs of the late Richard Stagno Navarra – whose preten- sions as suitable descendants of Cosmana Navarra and for con- trol of the Abbazia were first made in 1992 – are genealogical- ly the rightful claimants to Cos- mana Navarra's foundation. This fact alone was never veri- fied by the archdiocese. In his reply to MaltaToday, Valentino took umbrage at this newspaper's probing questions and alleged the journalist was being paid to report the case. Gozo court case: Carravan versus residents In court, appearing in a case filed by Valentino for Carravan Ltd, against property owners who registered the title of their properties with the government, the Curia's former property di- rector Ray Bonnici admitted that the Maltese church "took a short-cut" with the €200,000 pay-off, so as not to be bogged down in a lengthy court case with Carravan. Bonnici said no genealogical research or due diligence was carried out by the Curia when it 'sold' its control of the Abba- zia. "The heirs of the late Rich- ard Stagno Navarra had been in court with the Curia for some 20 years. In their agreement with the Curia, they gave a guarantee that they were the sole heirs and descendants of Cosmana Navar- ra, and that they would be held responsible should there be a challenge to the lineage," Bonn- ici said. Bonnici said the family tree presented by the Stagno Navar- ras in court back in 2013 had never been challenged in previ- ous court cases. For decades, these vast lands in Qala forming part of the Ab- bazia had been controlled by a cleric appointed by the Maltese church. The priest's duty was to administer the lands until such time as a rightful heir regains control. As rector of the Ab- bazia, the priest was to use the rents paid for the pious obliga- tions for the repose of the soul of Cosmana Navarra. Yet Cosmana Navarra's deed has clear guidelines on who the rector of the Abbazia must be: after her death, it had to be her nephew Federico Falson's first- born son – the rule of primo- geniture. In the absence of this, it had to be the first-born son of Navarra's daughter. If not, then the first-born son of Cosmana Navarra's sister Faustina, or the sons of Faustina's daughter. On- ly after these measures were ex- hausted would the Abbazia then pass on to a priest, temporarily, until such time another rightful heir is made available. Cosmana Navarra was so specific that she said even children could be ap- pointed to the role – as long as they were direct heir of primo- geniture lineage. All this came to a head in 1992, when Richard Stagno Navar- ra mounted a challenge to the Church's control of the unde- veloped lands. The case was de- cided in 2013, when the courts finally decided the Maltese arch- bishop had the sole power to ap- point the suitable candidate as rector of the Abbazia. Is foundation 'ecclesiastical'? But there remains confusion as to whether the Abbazia is an "ec- clesiastical foundation". The Gozo residents who are fighting off Carravan's preten- sions to take over the land on which their houses were built, are insisting Archbishop Charles Scicluna needed the consent of the Vatican to hand over the Archbishop, fiefdom's controller, refuse to answer questions on claims to Gozo lands At work: the Abbazia's land in Qala is being registered in the name of a private company, Carravan, which is being developed by magnate Joseph Portelli