Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/899902
maltatoday SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2017 6 News Call for the Post of IAID Senior Auditor in the Internal Audit and Investigations Department within the Cabinet Office, Office of the Prime Minister The Director General (IAID) invites applications for the post of IAID Senior Auditor in the Internal Audit and Investigations Department within the Cabinet Office, Office of the Prime Minister. Further details are available on the Government Gazette of Friday 3 November, 2017. Applications as detailed in the afore-mentioned edition of the Government Gazette, are to be received by the Director General (IAID), Internal Audit and Investigations Department, Lower Ground Floor, Valletta Buildings, South Street, Valletta VLT 1103 or submitted through the Online Government Recruitment Portal on http://recruitment.gov.mt, by not later than noon of Friday, 17 November, 2017. Office of the Prime Minister 21237737 info.iaid@gov.mt REWS/137/2016 Millennia, Aldo Moro Road, Marsa, MRS 9065. Tel.: 22955121; Fax.: 22955200 http://www.rews.org.mt CALL FOR TENDERS Lease of Offices The Regulator for Energy and Water Services invites interested parties to submit tender offers for the lease of office space. Sealed tender offers, with the Advert Number REWS/137/2016 clearly marked, should be deposited in the tender box at the offices of the Regulator for Energy and Water Services, Millennia, 2 nd Floor, Aldo Moro Road, Marsa MRS 9065 by not later than 10:00a.m. of Friday 15 th December 2017. Further details may be obtained from the Regulator's website: www.rews.org.mt MATTHEW AGIUS A judge has approved a request that paves the way for a bank to seize mil- lions of euros worth of farmland in Bahrija from the land's defaulting owners. Norman Zammit, along with shareholders Emanuel Baldacchino, Joseph Baldacchino, Carmel Bal- dacchino, Ninu Cuschieri, George Cuschieri, Anthony Galea, and Gen- eroso Sammut, had been involved in a legal tussle over land in the Qortin area of Bahrija after local farmers reported that the men, directors of Eliza Properties – now Touchstone Properties – had tried to evict them so as to sell the land at over ten times the amount it was bought for. The land was previously owned by the Barony of Bahria, Salvatore Consoli-Palermo-Navarra, whose heirs had sold the land to Eliza for €2.5 million. In 2005, Eliza started marketing the sale of 1.5 million square metres of Bahrija land. Eliza Properties had also asked the courts to evict the farmers from the 1,500-tumolo area, known as il-Qor- tin and overlooking the bay at Fomm ir-Rih, a green area where develop- ment was prohibited. In March 2016, BOV filed a sworn application, claiming that in a con- tract of loan and sale dating back to 1997, Eliza Properties had declared itself a debtor of the bank for the sum of €1,630,561, together with additional interest until the date of final payment. The agreement had been entered into after former METCO chair- man Norman Zammit lost an appeal against a previous court decision, leaving him liable to the payment of over €1.9 million (Lm828,000) in un- paid debts to Bank of Valletta. Already in 2008, Zammit and his wife Marie Therese had been or- dered to pay the amount after the bank petitioned the court to enforce an earlier decision, declaring Zam- mit to be a debtor. A subsequent appeal filed by Zam- mit was thrown out, with the court also ordering him to pay double the legal expenses as punishment for the "vexatious and frivolous" lawsuit. Zammit had challenged the bank's request on the grounds that it was Eliza Company, the company he is a shareholder in, which had been the debtor. Eliza Properties was also co-owned by Generoso (aka Jimmy) Sammut – who had once been accused, to- gether with Zammit, of stealing 15 paintings from Villa Fiorentina in Attard in 1999. Fast-forward to the present day, where BOV requested the court authorise it to use the contract as an executive title, on the grounds that contracts made before a notary public can form the basis of a suc- cessful money claim if dealing with a debt that is certain, liquid and due. Eliza properties had initially replied, claiming that the contract was not a constitution of debt, but a property loan for €700,000 by the bank to the defendant company. The company said it had paid BOV, which was "expecting to be paid interest that exceeds the capital sum borrowed, thereby breaching the rule of ultra duplum." It had been paying off the debt by selling immovable properties and passing on the takings to the bank, but said that BOV was not consent- ing to reducing the hypothecs on the properties, and proving to be an im- movable obstacle to their sale. But then in May 2017, for reasons unclear, Eliza Properties made an about-turn and admitted the claim. Seeing this, Judge Silvio Meli noted that the five-year period from the date of signing the contract had elapsed and that the plaintiff had used a legal faculty of reviving the executive title. The court thus authorised the bank to use the 1997 contract as an executive title, which could now be used as a basis for legal action to re- cover the debt. MATTHEW AGIUS A judge has upheld an objection by a former director of bankrupt su- permarket PriceClub to a €759,000 VAT bill on the grounds that it was addressed in a way that meant he was not able to legally challenge it. Back in 2005, the VAT depart- ment had sent Chistopher Gauci, a director of PriceClub, a letter re- questing payment of Lm326,154 in tax arrears, holding him personally liable for the debt and giving him 30 days to settle the outstanding amounts. Gauci had never been notified of any estimates before he received the letter and had asked for more information from the company liq- uidator. He sent letters to the Commis- sioner for VAT, calling upon him to retract his claim, but did not re- ceive a response. In the absence of any other way forward, Gauci had sued the VAT department, asking the court to declare the decision to hold him personally responsible for the amounts due from PriceClub Op- erators Limited and carry out a judicial review of the VAT depart- ment's actions. The VAT department had justi- fied its singling out the plaintiff by saying that Gauci had been a director at the time and therefore was responsible for the company's obligations at law. The obligations pre-dated the dissolution of the company by a long way, it said, alleging that PriceClub had sent estimates to the Board of Appeal which contained "false figures and blatant irregularities." The VAT due had also remained unpaid, it pointed out, saying the demand notice and subsequent ju- dicial letter were issued in accord- ance with the law. In a judgment handed down in the First Hall of the Civil Court on Tuesday, Judge Silvio Meli noted that the VAT Department had asked the court to hold Gauci per- sonally responsible for the amount owed by the company, including tax, administrative fines and inter- est. The judge also observed that through these proceedings, the plaintiff was asking the court to de- clare the defendant's department's decision to hold him responsible for the amount due to it as null. It was clear that when the tax fell due, the plaintiff had been director of the company and its representa- tive and responsible for the obliga- tions, said the court, agreeing that it appeared that the obligations preceded the liquidation of the company. But it emerged that the estimate of tax requested by the Commis- sioner for VAT had not been sent to the plaintiff and addressed to him in his own name, but in the name of PriceClub Operators Lim- ited. This meant that the plaintiff was not in a position to exercise his right to contest the estimate before the Board of Appeal of VAT once the company went into liquidation, said the court. Therefore, the demand notice eventually issued by the Commis- sioner for VAT was also invalid, ruled the judge, dismissing the VAT appeals board's arguments and upholding the plaintiff's re- quest. Taxman claim for €759,000 in unpaid VAT from bankrupt PriceClub fails Bank to seize Bahrija farmland from controversial landowners