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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 MARCH 2015 9 News Villa Parisio mediation fails, Strickland heirs go back to court MATTHEW VELLA A court case between the owners of Allied Publications, the Strickland Foundation, and Robert Hornyold- Strickland, the heir of Mabel Strick- land, will continue after the two sides failed to reach a mediated settlement over the way Strickland's will was in- terpreted by executors Prof. J.M. Ga- nado and the late Guido de Marco. Hornyold-Strickland filed the dis- pute in January 2010 to reclaim the full use and habitation of his aunt's former family home – Villa Parisio in Lija, currently used by the Strickland Foundation – as well as farmland, the personal contents in her home, Strickland family heirlooms and the family archive. Hornyold-Strickland contends that the disputed property has been withheld from him and erroneously passed to the Strickland Foundation, and that as sole heir to the former Times owner and editor, the proper- ty should have been passed to him. "The executors and the Strickland Foundation contend that Mabel Strickland's heir has no legal right to use any other rooms in the villa, including the other bedrooms, bath- rooms, sitting room, dining room, hall, kitchen – regardless of whether the Strickland family, guests and staff all used these rooms at the Villa during her lifetime," Hornyold- Strickland told MaltaToday, having accused her executors of a conflict of interest and a breach of their fiduci- ary duties. The disputed property includes personal and legal files, and execu- torship files concerning Mabel Strickland's will, estate, and the setting up of the Strickland Foundation (SF) which happened at the same time as her revised will in 1979. At present, the estate is divided between the Strickland Foundation and sole heir Robert H o r n y o l d - S t r i c k l a n d , with the Foundation receiving the major be- quest, including ownership of Villa Parisio and a majority shareholding in Allied Newspapers, publisher of The Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta. Hornyold-Strickland says he was chosen as an heir in 1975, the first time she had written a will since 1940 after her father died. He returned to live in Malta in 1977, after Strickland – fearing a nationalisation threat by the Mintoff government – requested she adopts him to ensure the survival of the Strickland heritage. The adoption was approved by a court expert but blocked by a timely change in laws by the Labour gov- ernment, backdated retrospectively to January 1977, to prevent the adop- tion. Hornyold-Strickland, who has cop- ies of all of his aunt's earlier wills, says his aunt gave him lifetime rights over Villa Parisio's use and habita- tion. In addition to owning Villa Parisio, the Strickland Foundation also con- trols the majority shareholding in Allied Newspapers. Today National- ist MP Mario de Marco and lawyer Max Ganado, both sons of the origi- nal executors, hold positions on the SF council. Hornyold-Strickland says he has never been invited to take a place on the SF council which, he says, his aunt set up "for herself and her heirs in perpetuity". In May 2013, midway through the court case, Judge Silvio Meli request- ed both sides to take this dispute to mediation under the guidance of Judge J.D. Camilleri. "When a compromise solution on all aspects of contention in the court case proved impossible to resolve collectively, it was agreed to narrow down the mediation to just the sin- gle issue of Mr Strickland's lifetime rights of use and habitation at Villa Parisio," Hornyold-Strickland said. "Having suffered terrible harass- ment in our own home up to this point by the Foundation, the issue of privacy was, and is so important to me and my family, that we were prepared to temporarily set aside the other major issues in this ongoing law suit – simply to find a solution that would allow my family to live in security and privacy in our own home and to be able to get on with our lives." Hornyold-Strickland added that the Strickland Foundation had lost an opportunity to settle on a com- promise to have the heirs live in the family home with total privacy. "Each day for the last four years, my wife has woken up not knowing who would invade our home, as the Strickland Foundation believe that Mabel placed both parties into her family home together – which is a ridiculous interpretation of her will," Hornyold-Strickland said. "In case anyone was to not believe us, my wife and I have now docu- mented our own audio and video clips of dozens of entries, at all hours of the day and night, by members of the Foundation and their col- leagues. This harassment has taken a terrible toll on my wife's emotions since tomorrow, and every day until this court case is settled, she will con- tinue to wake up not knowing who from the Strickland Foundation will enter our home, completely unan- nounced. We also suffered invasive 24/7 CCTV inside as well as outside our home; nowhere else in the world would this kind of intimidation be tolerated." Hornyold-Strickland said that his aunt foresaw the need for the Strick- lands to transfer their seat of office to any other place as they might 'think fit', so that her heir could live in the villa as she intended when he was able to return to Malta. At the time of her death Hornyold-Strickland was living in the UK. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt ELECTORAL COMMISSION NATIONAL REFERENDUM AND LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS - 2015 The Electoral Commission notifies that:- Sealed quotations will be received either via email on electoral.office@gov.mt or by hand in the tender box at the Electoral Office, Evans Building, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 2000 up to 10.00 a.m. of Friday, 6 th March, 2015, for: Quot. No. 6/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Malta to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 7/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Malta to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 8/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places i n Malta to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 9/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Malta to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 10/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Malta to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 11/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Malta to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 12/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Gozo to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Thursday 9th and Saturday 11th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No. 13/2015 Gozo – various transport on Saturday 11th April, 2015; Quot. No. 14/2015 Conveyance of boxes and persons from Polling Places in Malta (Hospitals) to the Counting Hall in Naxxar on Saturday 4th and Thursday 9th April, 2015, from 9.45 p.m; Quot. No.15/2015 Transport of election material from Marsa to Polling Places on Friday 3rd, Wednesday 8th, Thursday 9th and Friday 10th April, 2015; Quot. No.16/2015 Provision of chauffeur-driven cars from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th April, 2015 and during the counting process; Quot. No. 17/2015 Provision of chauffeur-driven cars from Monday 6th up till Thurs- day 9th April, 2015; Quot. No. 18/2015 Provision of various transport of persons between Sunday 29th March and Friday 10th April, 2015. Quotations can be either downloaded from the website www.electoral.gov.mt or collected from the Electoral Office, Evans Building, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 2000, (telephone number 2558 3116) from 8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. Mabel Strickland, owner and editor of The Times, and MP for the Progressive Constitutional Party Villa Parisio in Lija - the stately home was bequeathed to Mabel Strickland's nephew Robert (pictured below with wife Dierdre) but also as the seat for the Strickland Foundation, owners of The Times