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MW 24 August 2016

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3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 24 AUGUST 2016 News Life is far from a beach for Birzebbugia concession owner MATTHEW AGIUS NOT a week after a public outcry led to a clampdown on abuses by beach concessions on Comino, the owner of a licensed Birzebbugia beach concession has filed court proceedings saying he is being crowded out of business by unli- censed operators. Noel Mallia of Gzira had applied in July, 2014 for permission to set up deckchairs and umbrellas at Pretty Bay, Birzebbugia and was granted a permit to put up his equipment in the middle of the beach, the follow- ing May. But obtaining the permit turned out to be the easy part. Owners of two other concessions, who he claims had been using an expired permit to set up on the beach's flanks since 1993, had tak- en to encroaching on Mallia's area and were making life difficult for his employees, he says. Their staff also "launch themselves on poten- tial customers," he says. The police had been called on one occasion when the Maltese staff working for another operator had allegedly attacked and beaten one of his workers who had gone to dig a hole for an umbrella. Mallia was especially frustrated at what he described as the inaction of the authorities, saying that inspec- tors from the Lands Department (now Lands Authority) had called at the site but nothing had come of their visit. He compared this with highly publicised enforcement ac- tions, recently taken against illegal scrapyards. "They raided the scrap- yard with dogs and all that non- sense and then this guy has been operating illegally here since 1993 and nothing has been done." The operator says he had spoken to the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Simplification of Ad- ministrative Processes, Deborah Schembri, who he claims had con- firmed that he was in the right. A spokesperson explained that Schembri was aware of the issue and had contacted Mallia. "The MTA contacted the complainant around a fortnight ago. It resulted that the operators in question are not licensed by MTA and such issue therefore falls within the remit of the Lands Department. The MTA is informed that Lands Department has made it clear to the mentioned operators that there is only one en- croachment at Pretty Bay and the rest have been revoked. So it is il- legal for them to place sunbeds and umbrellas in the area." The businessman says he had even written to the Prime Minister, after which he had been contacted by OPM customer care to reas- sure him that the Prime Minister was aware of the issue and that the problem should be solved. But solved it was not, the businessman says, adding that he has now resort- ed to legal action. "Seven ministers and MPs have been told about this, but to date, the problem persists. I'm tired of them trying to hoodwink me, bouncing me from pillar to post," said a rue- ful Mallia. "None of them helps." "Now, I am not going to the beach at all. I am leaving the operation of my business in the hands of my friends, because it hurts me too much to see the bay packed with people, while I, who have a permit, am only earning around €120 per day." The other concessions should be removed as they are not covered by valid permits, he said, "so much so that in June they applied for per- mits again. After that, one of the owners had told me 'I have applied for a permit, so now you can't kick me out'." Replying to questions sent by MaltaToday, an OPM spokesperson said on August 12 that "the other encroachments have been revoked and respective individuals have been informed that such encroach- ments have been terminated. If operators persist in operating from the said bay, they are doing so ille- gally and are liable to police action." Asked how, if the government is failing to deal with the small fry, the public are supposed to have confi- dence that it will stand firm against big offenders, it made reference to several actions against large-scale illegalities in the last months. "La Sfoglia restaurant's tent was re- moved through direct action by the Lands Department. The squatter at Vendome Tower, Marsaxlokk, which was being used for catering purposes, has been evicted. Direct action has been also taken with re- gard to a cellar in Merchants Street, Valletta in connection with St John's Co-Cathedral Project. In line with the government's push against illegalities, the Lands Department has also evicted quite a number of squatters who were illegally occu- pying certain premises. "This push for enforcement can also be seen when it comes to en- forcement by the Planning Author- ity irrespective of how big or small the entity committing the illegal- ity is. After years of resistance, the Planning Authority cleaned up more than 50 scrapyards, many of them were on ODZ land. Illegal sta- bles, which along the years were il- legally transformed into residences, were also hit by Planning Author- ity enforcement. Not to mention also the action taken on the illegal structures at Montekristo." A spokesperson for the Minis- try for Tourism told the Malta- Today: "The MTA contacted the complainant... It resulted that the operators in question are not li- censed by the MTA and such is- sue therefore falls under the remit of the Lands Department. MTA is informed that Lands Department has made it clear to the mentioned operators that there is only one en- croachment at Pretty Bay and the rest have been revoked. So it is il- legal for them to place sunbeds and umbrellas in the area." The Birzebbugia concession owner expressed frustration at what he described as the inaction of the authorities Road rage aggressor had threatened to shoot man in 2008 MATTHEW AGIUS THE man charged with at- tacking and slightly injuring a motorist in a road rage in- cident last week had, together with his son and another man Chris Gaffarena, allegedly at- tacked a man in a car in 2008 after threatening to shoot him. 57-year-old Marius Mus- cat was arraigned in court on 12 August, charged with attacking and slightly injur- ing 61-year-old Mario Vella in a heated argument on the Birkirkara by-pass. Muscat was also charged with damaging Vella's car, ob- structing traffic and disturb- ing the peace. He was released on bail, after defence law yer Franco Debono told the court that Muscat had just visited his son, who was being treated in Mater Dei Hospital's inten- sive care unit. Claims that Muscat's son had suffered burns in a boat fire, which had been started in an attempt at insurance fraud, re- main unconfirmed. As revealed by MaltaToday last week, Muscat is the presi- dent of the Transport Services for Disabled Persons Coopera- tive Ltd (TDP Services), which currently provides school transport services for persons with disability. Last week 's incident was not Muscat's first brush with the law, or the first time that he or his sons had tried to beat someone up. In 2008, Muscat's sons Adri- an and Alan had been charged with attaching another car's number plate to a Mercedes SUV. Adrian Muscat had been cleared due to lack of evidence, while Alan Muscat was fined €2,574 for driving the unli- censed and uninsured vehicle. One year before that, in 2007, Adrian Muscat had been fined after admitting to insulting a police sergeant. In June 2008, Adrian Muscat had gone to the police, claim- ing to have been attacked and grievously injured by a man, who was subsequently charged. In that case, the father and son had claimed that an ar- gument with the man over construction debts had taken place in the offices of archi- tect Robert Musumeci on the day in question. Marius Mus- cat had stormed out of that meeting. In Rabat later that day, Marius, accompanied by his son Adrian and "a certain Chris Gaffarena," had met with the man – ostensibly to recover a mobile phone that Muscat had left behind. But it emerged that the men had been following the ac- cused's movements, in con- nection with the disagreement being discussed at Musume- ci's offices and had threatened to shoot him. "In fact the ac- cused appears to have been so fearful of these people that he felt the need to file a report at the Rabat police station," the court had noted. The man had consistently testified that he had been waiting to pick up a foreign business associate of his, when the three men had pulled up beside his car in an SUV. The business associate had told the court that the sight of the trio, who were of a larger physical build than the ag- gressor, had led the terrified man to attempt to f lee on foot. The Muscats had chased him, while Gaffarena had blocked the associate from opening the car door, also trying to remove the car keys from the ignition. The man accused of injuring Adrian Muscat had, in fact, picked up a discarded metal rod from the ground and de- fended himself with it by hit- ting Muscat on the head, the court had held, clearing him on the grounds of lawful self- defence. It is not known whether the assailants were subsequently prosecuted. Questions sent to the police remained unan- swered by the time of going to print.

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