Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/451763
Matthew Vella A MaltaToday request for an ex- planation on how €4.2 million in taxpayers' money was paid to the lessors of the Café Premier in Val- letta to vacate the building, has been upheld by the Information and Data Protection Commission- er (IDPC). The IDPC found that the govern- ment property division (GPD) – by whom the Valletta café was leased to private company Cities Enter- tainment Ltd – was wrong not to furnish this newspaper with cor- respondence on its out-of-court settlement with Cities Entertain- ment. The company had fallen behind on some €200,000 in lease pay- ments it owed to the government in December 2012, so it contested the claim in court. After Labour's election victory in 2013, Cities Entertainment and the Lands Department agreed on a €4.2 million settlement. The com- pany rescinded the lease, and the money was used to pay back all outstanding government dues and also its private debts. In its decision, the IDPC also found that the government prop- erty division was wrong not to forward MaltaToday's Freedom of Information request for the work- ings into the €4.2 million estimate to the Office of the Prime Minister: it was through the parliamentary secretariat for planning that con- sultant John Sciberras, a former director-general of the Lands De- partment, ordered the valuation. The director of the Joint Of- fice, architect Duncan Mifsud, a former Labour candidate in 2008, was tasked to establish the price to be paid. Wrong to refuse FOI request In its investigation, the IDPC found that the voluminous file on the Café Premier lease did indeed contain information and exchange of correspondence over the cessa- tion of court action between Cities Entertainment and the GPD. But the GPD did not have any as- sessment on the compensation for Cities Entertainment, because this "was specifically commissioned by the Office of the Prime Minister which availed itself of the profes- sional services of one of the de- partment's architects." The IDPC said that the depart- ment had "undoubtedly failed on its obligation" to transfer MaltaTo- day's request on the €4.2 million assessment to the OPM, and in- structed it to transfer the request by 4 February. In refusing MaltaToday's request, the GPD had asked the Commis- sioner of Police to confirm whether an investigation into allegations by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi had been concluded. Although no answer was received, the GPD still refused the Freedom of Informa- tion request. So the IDPC served the GPD with a €120 fine for its delays in responding to the request, failure to transfer the request, and failure to quote the applicable articles of the law in refusing MaltaToday's request. NAO investigation The €4.2 million buy-back of a 65-year lease to catering company Cities Entertainment for Café Pre- mier and its underlying waxworks museum is currently the subject of an investigation by the National Audit Office, on the request of the Opposition. MaltaToday broke the story upon learning that the Lands Depart- ment had accepted an out-of-court settlement to pay Cities Entertain- ment €4.2 million, on condition that the company pays back out- standing government rent, income tax, utility bills, and VAT. But the agreement also included a condition for the company to pay back an outstanding €2,560,800 loan to Banif Bank, as well as a €210,000 payment to one of Cit- ies Entertainment's shareholders, M&A Investments. The latter raised suspicion over why a company that had defaulted on its lease payments was 'paid' to have all its debts settled using tax- payers' money. A police investigation that found no evidence on underhand pay- ments, established that Mario Camilleri, a shareholder of M&A Investments, had negotiated the deal with John Sciberras to have the government take back the premises, and cancel the executive letters ordering Cities Entertain- ment to pay its arrears. Camilleri's former business part- ner, Neville Curmi, had claimed that a €210,000 payment in the agreement was claimed as a "com- mission" for brokering the deal. Camilleri denied suggestions by the Opposition that the pay- ment had a "whiff of corruption" about it. "This was a straightfor- ward deal, and the €210,000 were a business debt due to shareholders' loans," he had told MaltaToday. Michael Farrugia, the then par- liamentary secretary for lands, had told MaltaToday in February 2014 that the "amicable expropriation" allowed the overlying National Li- brary to eliminate any hazard the catering business could pose to the treasures housed in the Biblioteca, and to build an elevator to improve access. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt More: Maltatoday.com.mt/ tag/Cafe_Premier maltatoday, Sunday, 25 January 2015 News Correspondence on Café Premier deal to be furnished to Maltatoday