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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 1 JULY 2015 3 News TIM DIACONO JASON Azzopardi, former minis- ter for lands, has defended a deci- sion to compensate a landowner whose parcel of land was expro- priated €404,000 when the land in question had been originally valued at €60,000. Emanuel Peresso's land, of some eight tumoli, was expropriated in 1974 without compensation. However, the two parties avoided taking the case to the Lands Ar- bitration Court or reach an out of court settlement and went for an ad hoc arbiter. A thread of emails published by MaltaToday on Sunday show that the Lands Department had ini- tially valued the land at €60,000. But Azzopardi yesterday de- fended the government's pay-out, which he said included interest, by saying that it would have ended up paying more had Peresso taken the matter to the Lands Arbitra- tion Court, or even to the Euro- pean Court of Human Rights. He referred to a similar case, decided in 2014 by the ECHR, to award €450,000 in damages for two-thirds of tumoli of land ex- propriated in 1974. "Can you im- agine how much the government would have had to pay Peresso in compensation had he taken the case to Europe? There were other similar cases too, both against Malta and other European coun- tries. The ECHR frowns on de facto expropriation." An email dated 9 October, 2011 from the then-director general of the Lands Department, Albert Mamo, to Azzopardi, showed that Mamo had originally esti- mated the land at €60,000. Mamo later told Azzopardi that he had requested a fresh valuation and that the value was subsequently raised to €140,000. This was confirmed by a state- ment that Peresso gave to the press, although not to MaltaTo- day. Peresso said the Lands Depart- ment first valued his land in Janu- ary 2012 at €118,000, made up of €59,130 for the land and €58,946 in interest. Peresso also confirmed that in 2011, the Lands Department of- fered an Attard plot in kind, which he did not accept, claiming that the Lands Acquisition Act did not contemplate barters but only cash payments for expropriations. Peresso contested the descrip- tion by the Lands Department of his land as a "countryside passage", saying the total area consisted of over 8,500 square metres. He said that the land, expropri- ated in 1974, was left out of a legal provision to incur 5% interest on the market value of government- expropriated lands and that he complained about it with the Of- fice of the Prime Minister. On his part, Lawrence Gonzi was said by Peresso to have replied to his complaint saying that he would seek the advice of the At- torney General: "Allow me to em- phasise that the valuation of any piece of land is not and can never be a political decision. This is why it is a matter left in the hands of the architects. Of course, you are not obliged to accept it and you have every right to contest it in accordance with the established procedure... I will continue to in- sist that you are given what is due to you by right. This must be done in accordance with the correct procedures and for no other rea- son," Gonzi was claimed to have told Peresso. In the emails, Mamo com- plained to Azzopardi to say that Peresso "still insists that the price of the land is €400,000 and com- piled a report by his architect bas- ing his argument on the market price and what the land would ac- tually cost if sold for development today as this was his original in- tention." On his part, Azzopardi yesterday said that a government-appointed architect for the Lands Depart- ment valued the land at around €100,000 while Peresso's own valued it at €300,000. An arbiter valued the land at €206,000, to which both parties agreed, along with a 2.5% interest rate – at half the 5% rate laid down at law – sav- ing the government €200,000 in interest charges. Peresso in his statement said he engaged Denis Camilleri as an architect, who valued the land at €40,000 per tumolo, to a total value of €307,775. He said that adding the 5% interest for each of the 38 years would have made the total amount of compensation at €556,200. He was paid a total of €404,020 representing the sum of €206,000 as the price of the land and €198,020 in interest, paid at 2.5% per annum, and on condition he does not pursue any legal action. "It is obvious that I am the one who was wronged when I had to accept a sum inferior to what I was entitled at law; I and my law- yer at the time (Prof. Ian Refalo) protested vehemently but to no avail as I was faced with a situa- tion that I either accept the com- pensation as offered or wait for it for an undefined period." On his part, Azzopardi said that it should be the Labour Party to apologise for land-grabs in the 1970s and 1980s, saying it was trying to deviate public attention from the Old Mint Street, Val- letta, expropriation scandal. In a statement, the Labour Party accused Azzopardi of attacking Government Property Depart- ment officials who had originally estimated the land at €60,000. "Azzopardi is trying to hide how his own involvement led to the land being valued at €400,000," the PL said in a statement. "De- spite the GPD officials having told Azzopardi that they couldn't understand how the land's value could be increased, it ended up increasing by seven times the original amount thanks to politi- cal interference." Peresso compensation saved money in court fees, former minister says CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Incredulous at his statement, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici questioned how it was possible that Gatt didn't know who his campaign donors were. "Yes, any Tom, Dick and Harry could make his dona- tions to my campaign," Gatt told Bonnici. "So anyone, with any interest in your ministry and portfolio, could make donations to your campaign?" Bonnici asked, to which Gatt replied: "It's my method of control: if I don't know who finances my campaign I cannot be accused of favoritism. We can disagree on the methodology … but it's how I worked." He defended donations he received from the Farrugia family – including the use of cars and a hall during the 2008 campaign. "I don't think that donors do so to cor- rupt people or else every one of you should resign and the political parties should close their doors. I did noth- ing different from what others did." Gatt, asked whether he was aware of which members of the Farrugia family had made the donations, insist- ed that he had "never asked" from where the donations came. "I had my people taking care of my campaign." Gatt had no recollection of eating out with George Farrugia, although he did not rule it out, after Bonnici insisted that the two might have dined together at the Waterfront. Insisting that there was "nothing special about George Farrugia" to be treated differently from any other busi- nessmen, Gatt said he could not remem- ber the number of times Farrugia visited him at his ministry. He recalled one time when Farrugia had accompanied Beppe Hili to his office. He recalled one time when he was passing in front of John's Garage and was invited in for a drink. Farrugia had then spoken with Gatt about the is- sue of storage tankers. The former minister also declared his "no regrets" to a Cabinet de- cision award- ing George Farrugia the president ia l pardon. He insisted that the Cabinet had taken an informed decision based on what then Police Commis- sioner John Rizzo and the Attorney General had told them. At the same time, Gatt argued with Bonnici that he "wasn't obliged to give any opinion" on whether the aim of the presidential par- don had been reached. He said that the presentation made to the Cabinet had con- vinced him that the presiden- tial pardon had been needed. "Honestly, I don't feel I have competence to judge these matters. I always acted ac- cording to my conscience. It was a collective decision in the presence of the Attorney General and the Police Com- missioner." At the beginning of the sit- ting, Gatt read out a state- ment declaring that he nev- er discussed tenders with anyone and he had not been aware of any irregularities at Enemalta before the first story appeared in Malta- Today. Former minister's 'no regret' on presidential pardon given to Farrugia George Farrugia Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi (C) flanked by Claudio Grech (L) and Kristy Debono