Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1538131
KARL AZZOPARDI kazzopardi@mediatoday.com.mt YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY 3 AUGUST 2025 • ISSUE 1343 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Map of death maltatoday A white lie Pro-choice doctors advise women who had an abortion to lie PAGE 6 Gourmet Magazine Free Gourmet Magazine with this edition €2.20 MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt PAGE 4 Map Map charts all fatal charts all fatal road accidents of road accidents of the past 25 years the past 25 years Planning reform is an exercise in 'malice' ST JULIAN'S LEADS IN COMMERCIAL PROPERTY LOANS, SAYS CENTRAL BANK PAGE 11 Environmental lawyer Claire Bonello says the authors of the planning bills tabled in parliament looked at every NGO victory in the Appeals Court and proposed amendments to neutralise these successes THE authors of Malta's controversial planning re- form scrutinised and tar- geted successful appeals by civil society, proposing le- gal changes that could neutralise these victories, Claire Bonello said. A lawyer and environmental activist, Bonel- lo did not mince her words in an in- terview with MaltaToday being published today: "This exercise was carried out with malice." She claimed the proposed legal changes appear to be crafted not to improve jus- tice, but to curtail it. "This law is there to neutralise the right of access to justice in en- vironmental and planning cases," she said. Bonello argued that the bills' authors had closely reviewed past legal wins by NGOs and activists, then introduced specific provi- sions aimed at preventing similar outcomes. She recalled one example where an appeal tribunal denied her team access to a property during a site vis- it, even though the devel- oper, owner, and Planning Authority officials were al- lowed entry. CONTINUES PAGE 10 Claire Bonello (Photo: James Bianchi/ MaltaToday) INTERVIEW MT2 • ANALYSIS PAGES 7-9 • OPINION CLINT CAMILLERI PAGE 10 Greedy landlords abusing foreign tenants SOME landlords are making a killing by renting out apartments, or beds, to foreign workers and charging utility fees without showing bills. This is just one type of abuse that ten- ants are facing at the hands of unscrupu- lous landlords, intent on milking a mar- ket that has grown exponentially over the past 10 years. A MaltaToday investigation reveals the type of abusive behaviour that tenants face at the hands of their landlords in a system that is heavily-skewed towards protecting owners more than tenants. SEE PAGES 2 AND 3