Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/546399
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 JULY 2015 News 7 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The two brothers, a police inspector and ser- geant respectively, were now neigh- bours of the Gaffarena family. How fortuitous the deal was is another matter altogether: because Daniel Zammit was the co-prose- cutor in the 2008 murder charges against Joe Gaffarena's son-in-law Stephen Caruana, then married to Romina Gaffarena – an Alfaclass Developers shareholder. Caruana, then 28, shot dead Nev- ille Baldacchino, after finding him in his Qormi home, in December 2008. He was granted bail on 13 January, 2009. Caruana found Baldacchino at his house, allegedly in the company of his wife at 1am on 19 December, and shot him several times with a shotgun. He pleaded not guilty to the mur- der, but since then has not yet been placed under a bill of indictment. The compilation of evidence is still ongoing. Subsequently, Joe Gaffarena de- molished the house where the mur- der occurred in the aptly named Drama Street and a block of flats was erected in its place, meaning that no further on-site inquiry can be car- ried out. Press reports from the arraign- ment show that it was the prosecu- tion, ostensibly Daniel Zammit, who asked Magistrate Miriam Hayman in her chamber, to have the sensitive evidence of witnesses like that of the wives of Caruana and Baldacchino, given behind closed doors – even though no reason for this decision was given. The request was naturally supported by the defence. The business connections between the Zammits and the Gaffarenas went further: in June 2010, Daniel Zammit went into business with his (now former) father-in-law Gre- gory Buttigieg and Gaffarena's son Michael, a dentist, incorporating the company St Gabriel Residen- tial Homes Ltd. The company was formed just a week before he married Buttigieg's daughter, from whom he separated three years later. In June 2014, shares held by the Zammits and father Ray Zammit with the Gaffarenas in Geras Care Ltd, were transferred to their moth- er Jane. Zammits and Gaffarenas in the news Daniel Zammit's name rose to prominence last month when the po- lice inspector was medically 'board- ed out' of the police corps within four days of making his request, and then drafted into a €60,000 position within Enemalta's internal audit di- vision. Up until this year he had been prosecuting people – 25 in total – charged with bribing Enemalta tech- nicians to hack their smart meters, a bust originally carried out by En- emalta's internal audit. But his new post was instantly ter- minated this week by energy min- ister Konrad Mizzi, as the majority shareholder of Enemalta plc, when the matter was brought up in the House of Representatives by the Op- position. The news came hot on the heels of a controversial €1.65 million compen- sation paid out to Marco Gaffarena, in cash and in a series of government lands bordering on his own property interests, for his half-ownership of a Valletta palazzo. The Old Mint Street building houses the government offices of the Building Industry Consultative Council, currently chaired by La- bour MP Charles Buttigieg. The MP, an architect, has in the past served the Gaffarena family as his clients. It was revealed that the expropria- tion of the Old Mint Street house was premature, since the govern- ment still had the property on a lease; and subsequently it was re- vealed that Gaffarena had discussed the matter with parliamentary sec- retary for lands Michael Falzon, who signed off the expropriation orders. Falzon's political aide, Clint Scerri, was also revealed to have accom- panied Gaffarena personally to the Lands Department. say goodbye to hefty electricity bills install photovoltaic solar panels today for a greener lifestyle and brighter future t: 00356 2156 9006 m: 00356 7959 2767 w: www.econetique.com e: info@econetique.com mompalao buildings, tower road, msida xewkija Industrial estate, gozo fxb, 346, mdina road, qormi MEPA refused Zammit permit for Bahrija stables In 2010, Daniel Zammit submitted an application for the construction of stables for the keeping of horses and a water reservoir on his Bahrija land. The site was located in a level 3 area of ecological importance and area of high landscape value. But the MEPA case officer report did not view the proposal as being in line with 'construction of new stables' policy, and recommended refusal. The case officer's report also stated that the applicant, Daniel Zammit, was the registered owner of four horses, according to a document submitted by the Malta Racing Club. Zammit appealed the decision in 2011. In March 2013, the MEPA appeals tribunal upheld MEPA's decision, saying that it had doubts that Zammit's stables proposal would be a small-scale physical development and that no environmental impact assessment had been prepared to substantiate such a claim. Zammits and Gaffarenas, Bahrija neighbours Bahrija