Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1497950
NEWS 7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 APRIL 2023 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The report was for a perjury in- vestigation into a PAC witness, the former finance minister Ed- ward Scicluna, and a witness in the Caruana Galizia assassination public inquiry, former deputy po- lice commissioner Silvio Valletta, over statements by Schembri that contradicted what they told both fora. On Tuesday afternoon, Schem- bri went on the offensive by de- manding that his testimony be suspended pending the outcome of that police investigation. It looked like the Nationalist MPs had committed an own-goal with their zealous criminal com- plaint on two figures' statements which might have not had para- mount bearing on the Schembri grilling. PAC chairman Darren Carabott consulted the Standing Orders, informing Schembri that only a member of the PAC, and there- fore an MP, could request such a ruling. So Schembri's lawyer verbalised a request to the committee, re- questing whether any MP – osten- sibly, Labour – would be willing. The Labour MP Glenn Beding- field, who formerly worked by Schembri's side in the Office of the Prime Minister, requested a closed-doors discussion with the other MPs. But ultimately, the government MPs did not request such a rul- ing, leaving Schembri's lawyers to deploy yet another request: a con- stitutional reference on the PAC's refusal for the ruling. Schembri's lawyers said they would file a request in the Consti- tutional Court as to whether it was lawful that Schembri be made to testify in the PAC when its mem- bers had filed a related request for a perjury investigation. Schembri proceeded not to answer any questions from Car- abott, who declared that even pending their intended request to the courts, he would ask the wit- ness all the questions he intended asking. Schembri refused to answer, for example, how he knew that the company Egrant, a Panama com- pany cited in emails from auditors Nexia BT to Mossack Fonseca at the time that they were seeking a bank account for Schembri's off- shore company, had never been 'used'. Schembri said he would not answer, due to the constitutional case he would request in two days' time. At that point, Carabott remind- ed him that the rules of the PAC were clear and that, based on for- mer rulings, a witness could only refuse to answer a question for fear of incriminating himself. Car- abott proceeded to stop the com- mittee sitting, to request a Speak- er's ruling on Schembri's refusal to answer. Schembri was dismissed pend- ing the outcome of the Speaker's ruling. Keith Schembri to seek Constititional Court direction on House PAC rules PAC chairman PN MP Darren Carabott faces Keith Schembri and his lawyers Heritage group objects to 64-room hotel on Villa St Ignatius JAMES DEBONO DIN l-Art Helwa has filed an ob- jection to the Planning Authority against the addition of three new floors to Villa Saint Ignatius in Sliema. Developers want to transform the villa into a 64-room hotel and erect two adjacent blocks of five and six storeys respectively. DLH warned that the proposed additions will "overwhelm" and "engulf" the early 19th century property, believed to be the first building of note in the Balluta area and possibly the first Neo-Gothic building in Malta. Moreover, DLH has pointed out that the area where the new hotel is being proposed is zoned as a residential area, where only hostels – and not hotels – can be considered. DLH also drew attention to var- ious policies which exclude addi- tional floors which "detract from the architectural homogeneity of the existing vernacular building". "This overwhelming structure would completely dominate this heritage building and the further construction encircling it would result in the total ruin of its im- mediate context. Such treatment of this distinct heritage building is completely unacceptable," DLH said. The villa in Scicluna Street in St Julian's is part of a larger property which once housed the first Jes- uits' College in Malta, which was already mentioned as a landmark building in an 1839 account of Malta. The villa was the subject of con- troversy in November 2017 when a wing of the building was partly demolished on the pretext that it contained dangerous structures. The latest application, submitted by developer Paul Gauci, propos- es the reinstatement of the villa's front annex on Triq Scicluna, res- toration works in the villa and re- instatement of the external stairs and other masonry features. Three underground levels be- neath the front and side of the property are being proposed to accommodate a service area and two levels of underground park- ing. The hotel will include a res- taurant and breakfast area within the villa's front annex at ground floor level together with an out- door catering area within the vil- la's front garden. An outdoor heated pool and deck area is being proposed on the roof of the villa's front annex. The project envisages the con- struction of a block consisting of a two-storey high multi-pur- pose hall and four floors of suites at the rear. Another side block comprising exhibition space at ground floor level and four levels of hotel rooms and suites is also being proposed. The plans foresee extensive landscaping and paving works within the front garden and a paved passage along the villa's extents and roof gardens. Villa St Ignatius was originally a detached country villa belonging to an English merchant named John Watson. Surrounded by gar- dens and fields, it was considered a prominent St Julian's landmark and is mentioned in accounts of Malta dating back to 1839. The villa was later turned into the Mal- ta Protestant College. The college remained in operation for almost 20 years and closed in 1865. In 1877 it was turned into a Jes- uit boarding school which was closed in July 1907 after the Jesu- its opened St Aloysius College in Birkirkara. The villa was convert- ed into a military hospital in 1915 which included 155 hospital beds. In the 1920s the building was di- vided into tenements and sold off for residential purposes. In 2017 unauthorised demoli- tion work resulted in the destruc- tion of a balcony on a part of the building dating to the nineteenth century. The court later ruled that the partial demolition was in breach of the court order. In April 2018, Gauci applied to demolish part of the villa to create a public square. The application was later withdrawn. The villa was subsequently protected from demolition through the issue of an emergency conservation order, issued by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage. Proposed development