Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1519042
MATTHEW AGIUS magius@mediatoday.com.mt 9 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 APRIL 2024 THE Planning Authority has slapped the Fortina Group with a planning enforce- ment against illegalities in its new lido, which it is trying to sanction through a planning application. According to the Planning Authority the enforcement order was issued because al- though the contravener was instructed to stop all works on site, they continued after the submission of the sanctioning applica- tion in January. The illegalities include a considerably larger than approved lift structure on promenade level and an extension of the restaurant's dining area on an underlying terrace and the addition of a canopy to cover it. The enforcement was also issued against the Lands Authority's chairperson since the land was leased to the Fortina Group by the government. The application involves land which was transferred by the government to the Group in a parliamentary resolution pre- sented three years after the permit was is- sued and after works were already finalised. The owners are now liable to daily fines which according to current laws do not ex- ceed €50 a day. But although the fines paid are far from a deterrent, PA insiders have told MaltaTo- day that this represents a welcome change from the passive attitude taken by the au- thority when faced with applications to sanction illegalities. This could reflect growing unease with the 'build now, sanction later' mentality which is eroding public trust in the au- thorities. PA explains procedure MaltaToday asked the Planning Author- ity to explain why other developments seeking to sanction illegalities have not been slapped with an enforcement order and whether such decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis. A spokesperson for the Planning Author- ity said the Compliance and Enforcement Directorate follows up on infringements and discusses the issues with the contra- vener. "If the contravener opts to submit a sanc- tioning application, within a stipulated period, and the works on site do not pro- ceed until the sanctioning application is approved, then an enforcement notice is not issued." However, in this case, the enforcement notice EC/039/24 was still issued since, "even though the contravener was in- structed to stop all works on site, works were taken in hand after the submission of the sanctioning application". JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt PA slaps Fortina Group with planning enforcement MR Justice Lawrence Mintoff delivered what legal circles have described as an "explosive judg- ment" last week in which he made scathing remarks on key public figures. In a ruling denying Yorgen Fenech's request to have Super- intendent Keith Arnaud removed from the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case, judge Mintoff re- served critical remarks for Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff in the Office of the Prime Minister. Fenech is awaiting trial on charges that he masterminded the journalist's murder. The judge lambasted Schembri's "conflict of interest" when he sat in on confidential security brief- ings without disclosing his "fra- ternal" friendship with Fenech. Mintoff also lambasted the al- leged leaks from the investigation that put the lives of police officers and soldiers involved in the pota- to shed raid where the three as- sassins were arrested at risk. The judge pointed a finger at Schembri and former deputy police commissioner Silvio Val- letta as the sources of the leaks to Fenech. Mintoff was also crit- ical of the friendship the former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar had with an individu- al who was very close to Melvin Theuma, who acted as a mid- dleman between Fenech and the three killers. Theuma was eventually granted a pardon to tell all. But the prospect of action being taken against these prominent figures remains a very small one indeed. Requests for comment to the police, the Justice Ministry and the Office of the Prime Min- ister were met with fuzzy answers. Despite the judge's observations about clear evidence of crimi- nal wrongdoing by Valletta and Schembri over attempts to derail the Caruana Galizia murder in- vestigation, there appears to be little inclination by the either ex- ecutive or the legislative arms of government to take action. In a one-sentence reply to ques- tions about whether Valletta and Schembri had been investigated and if so, why neither of them have been charged, a spokesper- son for the police replied that there "is an ongoing magisterial inquiry." Questions were also sent to the Justice Ministry about wheth- er there are any plans to take up the judge's recommendations that the legislator treat interfer- ence in justice by public officers who have undisclosed conflicts of interest as "very serious crimes which should be punished most harshly". The reply deflected the respon- sibility to take action onto parlia- ment. "The court pronounces itself constantly on various sectors, and we analyse all of the court's judg- ments and move forward with the necessary reforms. At the end of the day, it is the legislator, and thus parliament that decides what kind of laws should be intro- duced in our country's legislative system," a spokesperson for the ministry said. No reply was received to a follow up question, asking whether the reply meant that no amendments were, in fact, in the pipeline. The Office of the Prime Min- ister was less forthcoming. In a dismissive reply to questions as to whether the OPM had learned any lessons from Schembri's ill-fated appointment as chief of staff, or made any structural changes to prevent such an ap- pointment from happening again, a spokesperson dryly said: "The Prime Minister's decisions speak for themselves." When pressed for a more de- tailed answer, the spokesperson simply expressed "disappoint- ment and disbelief" at the ques- tion. The implications of the judge's words were not lost on rule of law NGO Repubblika. On Friday, the NGO filed a judicial protest call- ing upon the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police to formally declare, within the next seven days, whether they intended on prosecuting Schem- bri and Valletta following judge Mintoff's ruling. The Nationalist Party insisted the police should take steps to prosecute Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat "as soon as possi- ble". PN justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina said the Attorney Gen- eral and Police Commissioner can no longer abdicate their re- sponsibilities and must take ac- tion against Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri immediately. After judge's scathing remarks on Keith Schembri, deflection is the order of the day From left: Keith Schembri, Judge Lawrence Mintoff, former police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar and former deputy commissioner Silvio Valletta