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NEWS 4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 MARCH 2022 JAMES DEBONO A case officer had asked the Planning Authority's planning commission whether a €45,356 fine for planning illegalities on the site of a villa that was later sold to Robert Abela months af- ter its regularisation, should be doubled or not in view of its lo- cation in a protected area. But the Planning Authority is refusing to answer questions on whether this fine was actu- ally doubled or not. Labour leader Robert Abe- la acquired his Żejtun villa, a 2,200 square metre estate named 'Ċinja' for just €600,000, three months after it was reg- ularised by the Planning Au- thority and freed from restric- tions for its sale. At that time Abela served as chief lawyer to the Planning Authority. The illegal extensions carried out in the 1990s had doubled the size of the farmhouse on site to 352sq.m. The illegali- ties were regularised in 2017 despite a policy stating that buildings outside development zones can only be extended up to a maximum 200sq.m floor area. The permit was formal- ised in a decision notice issued on 5 July just a few days be- fore Abela bought the villa for what is being deemed a paltry €600,000 by the Nationalist Party critics. The law regulating daily fines states that when illegalities are carried out "in a protected ar- ea", fines may be increased by 100%. The villa is located in the buff- er zone for a Site of Archaeo- logical Importance known as Hal-Ginwi. The published minutes of the planning commission meeting in 2017 indicate that the board did not discuss this issue, al- though MaltaToday is in- formed that discussions related to administrative issues like fines are not always minuted. MaltaToday therefore sent the Planning Authority a num- ber of questions, which re- mained unanswered despite daily reminders during the past week. MaltaToday specifically asked the PA to state the amount of the fine, which was ultimately paid. It also asked the Planning Authority to provide a justifi- cation if the recommendation to double fine was not heeded. MaltaToday also asked the PA to clarify whether the Plan- ning Commission had sought the advice of PA's legal office before deciding whether to double the fine or not. Finally the newspaper asked the Authority to state the date on which the fine was paid and by whom. Abela has repeatedly denied interfering in planning regu- larisation of villa he bought in Żejtun but avoided saying whether the process to buy the property started before or after the permit was issued. NICOLE MEILAK ROBERT Abela said he de- clared his rental income from two Russian passport appli- cants to which he lent his Że- jtun ODZ villa address despite not featuring in his parliamen- tary tax statement. "This story claiming that I didn't declare the rent is a lie spread by the Nationalist Par- ty the last week of the election campaign. I declared the rent and I paid tax on it," he said. Tax statements spanning Ab- ela's time as a government MP make no reference to any rent- al income earned from his Że- jtun property. However, Abela is not legally required to declare such rent- al income in the statement if the contract was originally de- clared with the tax authorities and if he paid a 15% tax on all the income made. Abela confirmed last week that he rented out his Żejtun villa to a prospective passport buyer from Russia. He stated that the rental agreement was signed before he became Prime Minister, but could not specify when the contract was termi- nated. Abela's firm was previously an accredited agent for the In- dividual Investor Programme, Malta's scheme for the sale of passports to the global elite. Nationalist Party leader Ber- nard Grech challenged Abela to publish the architect's valua- tion of the property, suggesting that the contract price reflect- ed the legal shortcomings of the villa, and not the regular- ised alterations. Indeed, the villa was riddled with legal irregularities be- fore the Abela family bought the estate in 2017. The illegal extensions had doubled the size of the farm- house to 352sq.m, when such ODZ (outside development zone) buildings could only be extended up to a maxi- mum 200sq.m floor area. Abela was at the time the chief lawyer to the Planning Authority when in April 2017, the PA's planning com- mission approved owner Jo- seph Camilleri's request to 'regularise' illegal alterations and additions to the dwelling. However, Abela acquired the villa just three months after it was regularised by the Planning Authority and freed from restrictions for its sale. PA tight-lipped on proposed 'doubling' of Abela's villa fine Abela says tax was paid on rental income from Russian passport applicants

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