Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/550022
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 AUGUST 2015 News www.expressgroup.com We are Orange! Whatever the cargo, Wherever the destination, No matter the logistical risks, We can be trusted. We Deliver. 'Remember when you needed my help?' Gaffarena tells Fenech Adami PN deputy leader says Gaffarena 'gained nothing out of acquaintanceship' MIRIAM DALLI PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami has played down sugges- tions by notorious businessman Mark Gaffarena that the two were more than just "acquaintances". Fenech Adami was forced to re- act over his relationship with Gaf- farena after the latter commented on how much the two knew each other – which allegedly also includ- ed the "sorting out of fines" when Fenech Adami's brother was mayor of Birkirkara. Commenting on maltatoday.com. mt and on Facebook, Gaffarena ac- cused Fenech Adami of "lying" for giving the impression that the two had met occasionally. During a press conference on Fri- day afternoon, Fenech Adami con- firmed that he had met the Gaffare- nas but could not exactly remember when and where. "Yes, I met them… I think once at a reception, but it was in a casual manner," he said, adding that "yes of course I knew them… everyone knows who they are." Asked how many times he had met them, Fenech Adami said he couldn't remember. Yet, according to Mark Gaffarena, the two had met several times and were more than just acquaintances. "Have you forgotten the number of times I gave you a lift to your home in Gharghur before you were even a PN candidate? Have you forgotten the number of times we sat and ate around the same table? Have you forgotten how much we drank at Villa Arrigo a year ago?" Gaffarena also said that he had engaged Fenech Adami's wife as his notary and Fenech Adami had al- legedly sought his help when he had "problems with a person". But in a reaction to MaltaToday, Fenech Adami stood by his original comments, insisting that he had met Mark Gaffarena "casually". "I absolutely have no idea what he's talking about," Fenech Adami said over Gaffarena's claims that he used to drive him home and how they had dined together. He also said he had no idea what Gaffarena meant by his claim that Fenech Ad- ami had requested his help. Fenech Adami remembered that the Villa Arrigo event was a social event organised last year for Sav- iour Attard's 60th birthday. Attard is Gaffarena's father-in-law. Fenech Adami added that in the past he had attended another birthday bash thrown by Attard, this time in Haz- Zebbug. "I wasn't yet a member of parlia- ment when my wife did some no- tarial work for him. It was over 11 years ago," he said, adding that his wife had worked on seven property contracts with a combined value of Lm100,000. Fenech Adami added that "once, some 20 years ago, Gaf- farena had talked to me about a small case he had before the rural leases control board". The PN deputy leader went on to comment that "what's certain is that Gaffarena never got any good deals from me". "We definitely were not buddies because, when he didn't get his per- mit for the petrol station, he turned to the Labour Party," he said, add- ing that Gaffarena never spoke to him about permits. "The truth is that he wanted the permit for the petrol station and that says it all." Controversy engulfed Mark Gaf- farena when it was revealed that in January and April of this year he was paid €822,500 in cash and then granted seven parcels of govern- ment land, worth another €822,500, for the expropriation of his 50% ownership in a Valletta build- ing that houses the government offices of the Building Industry Consultative Council. The deal has raised suspicion on two counts: Gaffarena was compensated in January 2015 for a 25% share in the property, and then again in April after he managed to buy another 25% in February; and because the lands he was given abutted on property he already owned or which he in- tends to develop. The Gaffarena clan has a long and checkered history of building without the necessary permits or in outside-development-zone (ODZ) and running illegal operations, in- cluding an illegal restaurant and a petrol station, both in Qormi. Over the years, the Gaffarenas have switched political allegiance after failing to gain a permit for the petrol station under the previ- ous PN administration. Ultimately, a permit was issued in 2014 by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, after the station had been forcefully shut down in 2008 and 2009. Mark Gaffarena (left) and Beppe Fenech Adami Online postings by Mark Gaffarena