Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/523863
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 JUNE 2015 8 News TIM DIACONO ONE of the siblings from whom Marco Gaffarena bought a one- quarter share of the Old Mint Street, Valletta property in Febru- ary 2015 has claimed that the ex- propriation deal "stinks of corrup- tion". "I had no idea that the property would have been valued at such a high price," Tonio Mercieca told MaltaToday. "I don't begrudge Gaffarena that he managed to sell the piece for more than I had. I am frustrated as Joe Citizen. This was nothing less than daylight robbery of taxpayers' money. "It seems as though it was a case of a clique of people helping each other out. The civil servants in- volved in the deal seem to have been urged on by politicians who aren't loyal to their oath of office." Mercieca, who had run for the 2008 European Parliament elec- tions on the ticket of the now- defunct right-wing Azzjoni Naz- zjonali party, said that the Old Mint Street building had originally belonged to his great-grandfather, Raffaele Psaila. Upon his death, the property was inherited by his children and it re- mained in the bloodline until De- cember 2007, when Gaffarena pur- chased a quarter of it from one of Mercieca's cousins for €23,294. Mercieca said that Gaffarena had been inquiring about purchasing his quarter of the property for a few years but had only started showing "serious interest" towards the end of 2013. He recalled that Gaffarena had initially offered €69,881 but even- tually agreed to double his offer to €139,762 after around a year of ne- gotiations. Buyer and seller signed a promise of sale agreement last October. Mercieca admitted that he hadn't asked an architect to estimate the property's true value because dur- ing negotiations "the price is what the buyer makes it". He said that, as partial owner of the property, the government had paid him €26 every six months to rent out garages below the build- ing. "In April, two months after I had sold my quarter to Gaffarena, I received a €26 cheque in the mail from the government to cover the next six months, from April to Oc- tober. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. When I told Gaffarena about it, he told me to "just cash it as it was only €26". Man who sold Gaffarena Valletta share can 'smell corruption' in expropriation Gaffarena to build 10 apartments Anthony Mercieca