Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/472423
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 MARCH 2015 2 News 'Premeditated, calculated bailout by Joseph Muscat' – Azzopardi PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD MIRIAM DALLI NATIONALIST MP Jason Azzop- ardi has accused the Prime Minis- ter of lying in describing the Audi- tor General's scathing conclusions on the Café Premier acquisition as mere "shortcomings". The shadow justice minister ac- cused Joseph Muscat of resorting to a pretext to hide his own premedi- tated and calculated actions. "We have his own confirmation that he twice met one of the direc- tors before the election and, three weeks after he is elected prime min- ister, Mario Camilleri (the director) sends an email directly to Muscat," Azzopardi said, referring to meet- ings Muscat had with the director of Cities Entertainment. Camilleri claimed a €210,000 commission on the €4.2 million buyback by the government of the 65-year-lease on the Café Premier site, with the purchase money used to pay pending arrears and dues to the State, as well as the business's privileged creditors and bank loans. Flanked by MP Ryan Callus out- side the shuttered Café Premier in Valletta, Azzopardi said Muscat im- mediately set a private meeting with Camilleri for 17 April. In May, Mus- cat held a meeting with the head of the civil service, Mario Cutajar and consultant John Sciberras. "Muscat once again meets with Camilleri and, in a meeting presid- ed by the PM himself, to which no other Cabinet member or the Lands Commissioner were present, the negotiations were finalised," Azzo- pardi said. The MP claimed that Muscat's use of his own personal email was the cherry on the cake: "He used his own personal email to avoid leaving any traces on his official government email account." He also claimed that Muscat did not want other persons on the deal when an identical offer was made to Cities Entertainment by entre- preneur Anglu Xuereb. "The Prime Minister is hiding a scandal where a company settled its debts through money the taxpayers forked out." On his part, Callus took excep- tion to Muscat's statement that his government had assumed political responsibility by giving the National Audit Office full disclosure on the Café Premier deal. "He is trying to take credit for an investigation he didn't order. What does he think? That he can stop the Auditor General from carrying out his investigations? He must be jok- ing if he thinks that compiling a re- port is enough," the MP said. Callus said the Cabinet had been "misled" over a memo on the bailout presented to the ministers, because it failed to make reference to the €2.5 million that was to be paid to Banif Bank. "The government should have never interfered in private matters," Callus argued. Resolution of long-standing issue made Café Premier deal 'value for money' MIRIAM DALLI JUSTICE Minister Owen Bonnici defended the Cabinet's approval of the €4.2 million acquisition of a government lease from the own- ers of the Café Premier in Valletta, arguing that "value for money was rendered with the settling of a long- standing issue". Speaking to MaltaToday, the min- ister insisted that the government took "the bull by the horns" and ad- dressed the problem by approving the settlement and returning the property back to the people. "We were elected to take decisions. We found several problems waiting to be settled and Café Premier was one of them. We are a government that decides and we tackled this one by offering a settlement," Bonnici said. He added that he was comforted by the National Audit Office statement that its estimate of the property val- ue was higher than the government's own estimate. "The NAO report cannot be ig- nored and we have to learn from its considerations," Bonnici said, add- ing that he himself had read the re- port to ensure that certain mistakes are not repeated. An investigation by the NAO ex- pressed reservations about the way the value was achieved and a lack of governance. The NAO said it had reservations regarding the manner used to reac- quire for €4.2 million the lease held by Cities Entertainment Ltd when it had fallen behind on its rent. The money was used to pay back the State its dues in rent, VAT, tax, en- ergy, and other debts to Banif Bank. It said the price reflected a fair market value, but that this did not necessarily imply that value for money was achieved. In early April 2013, a Cities En- tertainment director wrote to the Prime Minister and negotiations between CE and the government were concluded in August 2013, and the matter approved by the Cabinet in September 2013. On 29 January, 2014, the government and CE signed an agreement through which the government bought back the lease for €4,200,000. This resulted in the eventual with- drawal of legal proceedings without clear justification or documentation, which action detracted from the re- quired level of transparency expect- ed in such a decision, the NAO said. "This must be seen within a con- text where the tenant, CE, was in breach of the lease agreement, as the three-year threshold in ground rent payments had been exceeded when negotiations commenced. Poor gov- ernance was a factor central to this shortcoming, with the government's negotiating team failing to involve the Government Property Depart- ment from the initial stages of nego- tiations," the NAO found. The government's justification for the reacquisition of the Café Pre- mier lease focused on four main ob- jectives, namely, the removal of pos- sible danger posed to the National Library, the provision of greater ac- cessibility, resolution of the problem of arrears faced by CE and the re- dimensioning of available space. However, the NAO said the ab- sence of documentation substan- tiating these policy objectives was considered as a significant short- coming. Bonello – 'Time to think outside the box' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 With the amendments approved by parlia- ment, individuals caught with two grams or more up to around 250-300 grams will appear be- fore a magistrate rather than un- dergo trial by jury. The magistrate could opt to re- fer the drug users to the rehabili- tation board. The magistrate can also choose to order community service as opposed to a prison sentence. Heritage Malta and the Restoration Directorate have al- ready agreed to offer places if the magistrate orders community service. "This is a law that helps genu- ine victims of drug to overcome their addiction," Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told journalists at a news conference. Flanked by Giovanni Bonello, Bonnici said the government was on the other hand harshen- ing laws against drug traffickers. Parliament gave the Justice Min- ister power to set up an Asset Management Bureau to confis- cate assets seized from criminals and drug barons. Describing the law as an "ex- periment", Bonello said the tra- ditional methods of repression were not giving results. "We fought drugs by law and prosecution, sentencing people to prison. The general impres- sion today is that the planned results were not achieved. It was time to think outside the box. This law is an experiment, but I don't think the situation can worsen more than it is today," he said. Bonello said victims of drug abuse were more of a social prob- lem than criminal while con- demnation will be maintained against those cases with crimi- nal elements. "The victims are people requir- ing help, not enemies of society," he said. The justice minister added that "time will prove us right" over the implementation of the law. mdalli@mediatoday.com.mt Jason Azzopardi (left) addressing the media, with Ryan Callus Minister Bonnici (right) explaining points of the drugs law, with Judge Bonello