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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2023 NEWS TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 22 JANUARY 2023 • ISSUE 1212 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday → direct Bespoke investment service tailored to your specific needs. discretionary portfolio management and receive a top-up of up to €200* Apply now medirect.com.mt 2557 4400 MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc, company registration number C34125, is licensed to undertake the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371) and investment services under the Investment Services Act (Cap. 370). PAGE 3 PAGE 3 Ten years on, no justice has been served on the Enemalta oil scandal PAGES 14-15 ENEMALTA OIL SCANDAL €1.95 Superboss capture is historic for Italy, but not the end of the Mafia... PAGES 8-9 End of an era? CARABOTT MATTHEW VELLA A parliamentary group meeting of the National- ist Party in Pietà saw party heavyweights and shadow ministers openly question Bernard Grech's dimin- ished presence as a leader. The air inside the PN just a year off the 2024 European and local coun- cil elections is yet again that of resignation, as the party seems to be inactive on various fronts, save for the unity it has garnered on opposition to Labour's amendments to the Crim- inal Code on Malta's abor- tion ban. On Tuesday last week, Bernard Grech's request to his leading MPs and shad- ow ministers to present him with working plans for the issues they will be following up in 2023, was met with questions from the parliamentary group about his role in shaping the political agenda. Voices such as those of Beppe Fenech Adami, the new heavyweight Joe Giglio, and newcomer Darren Carabott, asked Grech that it was not enough for them to have a plan of action. "He was told, 'we need sound and determined leadership'," one PN source told Malt- aToday about the meeting. Bernard Grech quizzed by PN heavyweights over 'weak leadership' MATTHEW VELLA GOZO'S association of tour- ism operators has reiterated its stand in favour of the extension of the helipad at Ta' Lambert into an airstrip, and likened the project to tax-funded projects delivering public services such as the Gozo Channel, the fast ferry or even basic roadworks. The GTA was reacting to a statement from former La- bour prime minister and MEP Alfred Sant, who poured cold water over the government's plans to extend the airstrip for a fixed-wing service to the is- land. 'Unprofitable' Gozo air service could be tax- funded - GTA Lingering cough and cold? Higher amounts of respiratory virus cases when compared to pre-COVID years BACK PAGE GTA takes exception at strong statement from former Labour PM Alfred Sant on 'bound-to-fail' service young MP chair is a straight-talker INTERVIEW MT2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 JANUARY 2023 COMMENT Who is parenting whom? JOSANNE CASSAR PAGE 6 The Skinny Malta, shrunk down MICHAEL FALZON Jailhouse rock PAGE 7 SAVIOUR BALZAN Waiting for justice PAGE 5 EDITORIAL Justice requires quality, not just quantity PAGE 2 RAPHAEL VASSALLO Who came up with those new 'cannabis rules', anyway? Cheech and Chong? PAGES 10 & 11 While children are invariably embarrassed by their parents no matter what they do – the embarrassment is taken to a whole other level when one's mother is so sexy and flirty that she gets all the attention everywhere she goes What are we skinning? Construc- tion magnate and chronic spon- sorship splurger Joseph Portelli's declared desire to resign from his post as Hamrun Spartans presi- dent, so that he may pop up on the pitch occassionally for a few minutes of tackling and scoring for the club he apparently loves too much to man. Why are we skinning it? Because it's yet another ostentatious yet potentially strategically loaded move from one of Malta's most prominent 'patrons' of... everything. What do you mean by 'everything'? Portelli – the big kahuna of JP Portelli Projects, lest we forget – is not only the brain- child behind some of Malta and his native Gozo's most controver- sial construction projects: he is also a multi-sponsor of football and futsal teams, as well as a re- gatta and – crucially – the parish feasts of Zabbar and Nadur. Why does he choose to spread his money far and wide in such a way? He claims it's because he 'enjoys others enjoying themselves'. That's noble enough. It's also the reason why most people watch porn, but I digress... Still, don't you think your cynicism is a tad premature? This is one of the most powerful business magnates of the island we're talking about here. Hardly a patron saint... despite what Na- dur parishioners may have been thinking when they depicted him as St Joseph the Evangelist on the town's festa banner. But that's down to them. It's Portelli who created the condi- tions within which such adulation may occur, though. For better or for worse, and consciously or otherwise, he has tapped into an intricate – and anthropolog- ically rich – symbolic network that assures his influence within traditional spheres of Maltese social life. Would you rather he just acts out his mid-life crisis by splurg- ing on sports cars instead? I'll admit that Portelli's ongoing bid for relevance may be more envi- ronmentally friendly than that of some of his compatriots, yes. Ironic that you should cite the environment as something Portelli holds dear. Yes, which is why my metaphor should be rele- gated to the same fantasy-land in which Portelli signs on with Ham- run Spartans to be a legitimate player who now contributes to his beloved team on the ground, and on the ground alone. Do you believe that his dream will pan out, though? It seems like the Malta Football Associ- ation may be willing to throw a spanner in that particular bundle of works... How so? It seems as though former club presidents cannot in fact register as players within the same team, lest they face the wrath of the Association's ethics committee. Ethical wrath should be par for the course for our Joe, though. And so it goes... Do say: "Portelli continues to secure his legacy as Malta's an- swer to Silvio Berlusconi, with his attempts to curry favour within the socially potent worlds of local football and village feasts. This latest move cannot, therefore, be seen in isolation, or viewed through an innocent lens." Don't say: "More time on the pitch, less time to plan con- struction monstrosities. I wish Mr Portelli luck in his healthy and otherwise environmentally sustainable new career path." No. 176 - Portelli Plays a Beautiful Game maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2023 CLASSIFIEDS & COMMERCIALS ARTS • TV • WHAT'S ON Colin Fitz Actor maltatoday Get the critical perspective on politics, culture and society Be the first to enjoy our print newspaper with a subscription When you need to decode what politicians are saying, when you want to understand why Malta's crazy construction industry is impacting upon your life, when you need to step out of the social media and understand the world from a different perspective, our journalists and columnists will provide you with expert reporting, analysis and commentary. Order now at https;//maltatoday.uberflip.com IN 1960, two years after the revocation of Maltese self-gov- ernment and four years before independence, the colonial au- thorities leased the tiny island of Comino – in its entirety – to the company Comino Develop- ment Ltd, owned by the British property millionaire and So- ho landlord John Gaul for 150 years. The price was a measly £100 annual rent. It had previ- ously been used by to grow fruit and vegetables over 162 hec- tares land by the Zammit Cuta- jar family's Comino Farming Company. The original deed, applicable till 2110, obliged Gaul to devel- op a 200-room hotel and even a restaurant on Cominotto by March 1963. When the compa- ny was in default of the deadline, the Borg Olivier government took the opportunity to "im- prove the government's posi- tion" by restricting the extent of the foreshore originally granted to the company and removing the restaurant on Cominotto. In 1963 a new deal was signed, reducing the area to that pres- ently occupied by the Comino Hotel at San Niklaw Bay and the bungalows at Santa Marija Bay. The ground rent was to be re- vised every 33 years according to the rate of inflation. Eventually, the BICAL bank founder Cecil Pace was con- tracted to run the hotel in Gaul's absence. By the time of the 1972 run on the bank, Pace had been arrested for banking fraud, and the company had de- faulted on its government rent. A deed signed in 1975 further reduced the areas allocated to Gaul, while retaining the same ground rent and conditions. The hotel was later contracted to the Mizzi group. In the meantime, John Gaul himself was embroiled in legal troubles of his own, after his ex- wife Barbara was shot in 1976 in Patcham, near Brighton, outside a pub. Gaul, a Soho property owner with ties to the Maltese Syndi- cate, went on the run with his new wife – po- lice arrested two brothers, Roy and Keith Edgeler, who were allegedly brought into the plot via a middleman, Charles Kray, brother to the notorious twins. The Edgelers confessed to the shooting, but defiantly refused to name the man who had hired them for the hit. Gaul was ques- tioned, but released for lack of evidence, and three days after flew to Italy and then Rio de Ja- neiro in Brazil. In April 1978, Gaul came to Malta where his luxury yacht Lotus Eater was moored. A Brit- ish request to extradite Gaul was turned down by the Mal- tese Courts in 1981. Gaul was allowed back in the UK to re- ceive medical treatment in 1984 after the police concluded that there was insufficient evidence linking him to the murder. Upon the election of a Nation- alist government in 1987 the deed was revised again when in 1989, an additional 5,139sq.m of "building land" was added to the concession and earmarked for the expansion of the hol- iday centre. Two other plots measuring 73,000sq.m were al- so handed to the company but were earmarked as 'parkland' where no new development was allowed. The parkland was of- fered to the company for 2 cents per square metre, while the "building land" was offered for 50 cents per square metre. The total ground rent due was es- Comino story: how big business got its share of paradise Ever since 1960 when the British leased Comino to controversial property magnate John Gaul, a succession of Maltese business groups have eyed the pristine Natura 2000 island for development. But how did Comino fall into private hands in the first place? asks James Debono George Fenech and Joe Gasan (top, left and right) were the major magnates associated with recent attempts to develop Comino, before selling on their interest to the Hili group - seen here is Melo Hili