Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/527016
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 JUNE 2015 News 7 denied Gaffarena's personal role in choosing the land parcels. "I'd imagine there were discus- sions on the land choice but I didn't interfere at any point. I'm not saying 'yes he was accommo- dated' or 'no he wasn't'. I'm say- ing that in no way did I indicate which lands should be passed on," he said. When asked whether he was aware of discussions Gaffarena had with the GPD on the choice of the lands, Falzon replied: "You want an answer from me which I can't give because I didn't do it [interfere]." Falzon said that compensation with public land was a practice long employed by the GPD. Up until 2003, expropriations by the State could take place without compensation. This later changed when the government department demanding the expropriation had to front the money for the owner- ship of the title. "We've had several requests for compensation in land. Gaffarena's exchange is no exception; it has happened before and the law regu- lating the disposal of government land provides for it," Falzon said. The parliamentary secretary also defended the values of the lands given to Gaffarena, which accord- ing to shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi were heavily un- dervalued: for example, two land parcels in Bahar ic-Caghaq val- ued at €260,000 and €70,000 were valued at €500,000 and €150,000 respectively by two independent architects. Falzon again stated he did not interfere in the valuation of the property or the GPD's work. "I never asked anyone to favour Gaf- farena in any way." "We face the flak irrespective of what we do: the government was accused of interfering in the GPD's work in the Café Premier saga; now we are still being criti- cised even though there was no political interference." Falzon said he will await the out- come of the investigation before pronouncing himself on whether the GPD applied inferior criteria on the value of the lands. "I will not point any fingers at anyone; I won't be prosecutor, judge or jury. There are two inves- tigations underway and they will establish the facts." No Cabinet referral Falzon refuted suggestions from MaltaToday that the expropria- tion deal should have been pre- sented to the Cabinet for its ap- proval. According to Falzon, no expro- priation deal is presented to the Cabinet and that ministers learnt of the case "from the media". "I am not here to pass on the buck. There was no need to present it to the Cabinet for approval be- cause expropriation deals are not presented to the Cabinet. Yes, the Cabinet learnt of the expropria- tion from the media because that is the normal procedure… at no point was the Prime Minister in- volved," he said. He also turned his guns on the former administration, saying that expropriations took place on the eve of the election – ostensibly referring to the land swap deal for the Fekruna restaurant – and that there was cases of direct in- tervention by the former prime minister. But departmental sources even told MaltaToday that Gaffarena was seen at the Lands Department in the company of Clint Scerri, a member of Falzon's parliamentary secretariat. According to Falzon, Scerri is a member of the secretariat's cus- tomer care team and "part of his job is to assist people seeking the GPD's services". "I spoke to Scerri and frankly I feel the reports against him are unfair. I'm not defending him if he did something wrong." But Falzon had also played down the seriousness of the €1.65 mil- lion expropriation when last week he said the news was sensational only because of Gaffarena's fam- ily name: one that has in the past been in the news over abusive construction. "I believe that a surname shouldn't make a difference. I have the comfort that the law, procedures and regulations were followed. I have several requests for land swap agreements from other surnames: Ganado, Xuereb, Vella… should I stop them all? Is this what the Opposition wants? I repeat that there was no inter- ference from my end and I was reassured that every procedure was followed before I signed the advice." done anything wrong' Gaffarena went to the GPD offering them an exchange for his share in Old Mint Street, for a government property he was renting out for peanuts No police investigation into Gaffarena expropriation deal MIRIAM DALLI THE police have not launched an investigation into the contro- versial expropriation deal involv- ing a building in Old Mint Street because they have "not received any requests". The expropriation deal which the Government Property Di- vision entered into with prop- erty owner Marco Gaffarena has been the subject of intense scru- tiny by the media and the Op- position, with questions being raised on the timeframes of the deals and the choice of parcels of land which were passed on to Gaffarena. The Nationalist Party has said that the agreement "stinks of corruption" and shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi de- clared that Gaffarena must have been informed of the govern- ment's intention to expropriate the building beforehand. The Opposition has asked for an investigation by the Auditor General; Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called for a separate inquiry by the Internal Audit and Investigations Department (IAID). But contacted by MaltaToday, the police confirmed that no in- vestigation had been launched from their end. "The Police have not received any requests to launch a criminal investigation into the matter," the police's communications of- fice said. Asked what was stopping the police from launching an inves- tigation, the Police's communi- cations office said: "The Police have nothing further to add to the previous reply." Seeking the advice of three lawyers, MaltaToday was told that the Police "absolutely did not need a request" to launch an investigation. "The allegations are in the pub- lic domain and the police have a right to investigate," one lawyer said. All three referred to Chapter 9 of the Criminal Code: article 346 states that "it is the duty of the Police to preserve public or- der and peace, to prevent and to detect and investigate offences, to collect evidence, whether against or in favour of the person suspected of having committed that offence, and to bring the offenders, whether principals or accomplices, before the judicial authorities". The law allows the Police to in- stitute proceedings without the complaint of the private party in a number of cases, "including in the case of any offence affecting public order or the community in general". The lawyers explained that 'public order' was a very wide statement. In this case, the com- munity was affected because the deal involves public land and compensation paid for through public taxes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