Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/912715
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER 2017 News 7 KURT SANSONE AN enforcement order for the demolition of the derelict Jer- ma hotel in Marsaskala is stuck in limbo as an appeal drags on in front of the tribunal. The next hearing of the Envi- ronment and Planning Review Tribunal is now on March 1, next year and is reserved for the final submissions by both parties. There is no indication when the tribunal would deliver its verdict though, which is like- ly to come almost two years after the Planning Author- ity slapped the site with an enforcement order. The last sitting took place last month when a PA official testified on how the authority went about identifying the owners of the site to notify them of the en- forcement order. The order was issued in Au- gust 2016 after a site visit by PA officers confirmed the re- peated complaints that the area had become a den of filth, riddled with danger. The Jerma site is owned by JPM Brothers Ltd and Jefpet Ltd, in turn owned by brothers Jeffrey and Peter Montebello. They appealed the enforce- ment order. Meanwhile, the derelict structure remains like a sore thumb on the promontory jut- ting out into the sea. Jerma was Malta's most prestigious hotel in the south. It opened its doors in 1982 and cost €16.3 million to build. Until it closed in 2007 it was operated by the Corinthia chain. The Montebello brothers bought the site and filed a planning application to de- velop a hotel and luxury apart- ments in 2008. But the brothers dropped the plans after running into finan- cial troubles. An attempt to sell the hotel site by court auction last year was unsuccessful. A court expert had valued the former hotel and its surrounding land at €20.8 million. It would cost €1.5 mil- lion to demolish the building. The Jerma site covers an area of 38,745 square metres. No end in sight for removal of Jerma hotel ruins MATTHEW AGIUS A court has decreed that there is sufficient prima facie evi- dence for Edward Caruana, a former chief canvasser of edu- cation minister Evarist Bartolo, to be indicted on charges of un- lawful exaction and extortion in the commission of works for the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools. Caruana, 57 – whose brother Joseph was the education min- istry's permanent secretary as recently as June – pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal exac- tion, that is, having demanded payments from suppliers of the FTS where he was procure- ment officer, to facilitate out- standing payments. He was also charged with extortion, trading in influence and use of falsified documents. The charges come a year after MaltaToday first reported in November 2016 that the for- mer chief executive of the FTS, Philip Rizzo, had alleged cor- ruption in the issuing of direct orders for the renovation of government schools. Rizzo, 65, who resigned his post, had singled out Edward Caruana's role in his capacity as the person responsible for direct orders. Yesterday magistrate Do- natella Frendo Dimech gave a decree of Prima Facie after hearing a number of witnesses testify. The case had been passed on to the police by the Education Ministry at the beginning of September after an internal inquiry found enough prima facie evidence to merit a crimi- nal investigation. Former FTS CEO Philip Rizzo called to testify Inspector Rennie Stivala summoned former FTS CEO Philip Rizzo to testify. Rizzo, an auditor with 22 years of experience had filed the police report, he said. FTS was created in 2001 to manage state schools ac- cording to the authorities of the education authorities. Rizzo said, "When I reported Caruana I did it as CEO, not because of some personal is- sue. I had conducted a detailed investigation both before and when I was appointed CEO because Minister Bartolo told me that one of the reasons for which I had been chosen for the post was my experience as an auditor and the minister had serious doubts about the operation of FTS and Edward Caruana in particular." "Edward Caruana had been the manager of summer pro- jects. This was a new role which took care of urgent works which cannot wait for tenders but which need short- cuts. This was in March 2016." Earlier this year he had seen a report alleging a bribery at- tempt involving Caruana and Robert Ciantar as well as a Goz- itan contractor called Giovann Vella. Rizzo had doubts about claims for payments of around €25,000 on works in toilets in a school in Gozo some months before, he said. "At first glance the quotations and the invoices were clearly false. They were all pristine white, when they should have been 9 months old. They were not folded and the signatures of the contractors were different from those on other contracts of works by the same contrac- tors." As this was happening Tony Muscat reported chest pain and went to hospital. "Tony Muscat was number one before me. He's telling me that he doesn't know about the invoices, the works and the sig- natures." The works had been finished at that point, nine months on. Muscat had ex- plained to Rizzo that Caruana had given them to him. Shortly later he had received a letter from the permanent sec- retary by hand which said that the CEO recommended the payment, which the Permanent Secretary normally automati- cally authorises. "Nobody knew about these works and invoices ended up in our hands eight months af- ter and where obviously false. I refused to pay." Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Stephen Tonna Lowell are ap- pearing as defence counsel. Minister's former aide charged with extortion in state school works Evarist Bartolo's (left) former permanent secretary Joseph Caruana (centre), was recently transferred to the finance ministry. His brother Edward Caruana (right) was charged with extortion yesterday MASSIMO COSTA FRANK Mifsud, known as Big Frank, a one-time feared member of Soho's Maltese Syndicate, passed away at his home on Sunday, aged 91. Mifsud was one of the main principals of the Maltese gang running Soho vice in the 1970s, which had numerous prostitutes operating full- time out of flats in the area. He had been accused of having been responsi- ble for the 1956 gangland murder of protection racketeer Thomas "Scarface" Smithson, but was cleared of the charges in 1976. He had pre- viously been extradited to the UK from Switzer- land, to face charges. After being freed, he returned to Malta in the mid-1970s to retire, where he lived on the Slie- ma seafront. In 2014, a court had ordered Mifsud to submit to a paternity test in order to determine if he was the biological father of a woman who al- leged she was his daughter. 'Big' Frank Mifsud, once feared member of Soho's Maltese Syndicate, dies Frank Mifsud was a member of the Maltese Syndicate gang that ran Soho vice in the 1970s 'Big' Frank Mifsud, infamous member of the Soho Maltese Syndicate, died on Sunday