Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/998504
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 JUNE 2018 4 NEWS AN ORIGINAL MUSICAL FROM THE CREATORS OF BALZUNET TA TOWERS 18TH, 20TH, 21ST, 22ND, 25TH, 26TH, 27TH, 28TH & 29TH JULY AT 9PM OUTDOORS , PJAZZA TEATRU RJAL , VALLET TA tickets f rom ilhanina.com or 23397000 Music by Written by Lyrics by PRODUCED BY SEAN BUHAGIAR Directed by €5 LESS UNTIL THE END OF JUNE JAMES DEBONO THE Superintendence of Cultural Heritage is calling for the preserva- tion of the façade of the matchbox factory in Marsa which has recently been earmarked for demolition to be replaced by a retail and office centre. The matchbox factory which dates back to 1950, has been left abandoned for the past years. Some features on the façade, including the inscription "Modern Match Factory Marsa", have been lost. "The matchbox factory property in question is a mid-twentieth century industrial building with a degree of architectural and historical value," the Superintendence said in its first submissions on the application. Corinthia Palace Hotel Ltd has pre- sented an application to replace the Marsa matchbox factory with a five- storey multipurpose centre, which in- cludes both offices and shops. The application foresees the demo- lition of existing industrial buildings, the excavation of the site and the construction of three levels of under- ground parking. The multipurpose complex will include a restaurant and shops at the lower levels and offices at the higher levels. In total the project will generate 3,560sq.m of retail and 15,395sq.m of office space. But according to the Superintend- ence the building has a degree of cul- tural heritage value that would justify the preservation of the façade and some of its internal feature. In view of this, it is calling for the integration of the façade and such features into any proposed develop- ment. The architect of the project has been asked to redesign the project. The Superintendence is also calling for an archaeological investigation of the site in question, a large part of which is currently covered with soil. Marsa matchbox factory façade deserves protection MATTHEW AGIUS THE alleged owner of a boat used in drug smuggling has been cleared of drug trafficking charges nearly nine years after being charged. In 2009, Daniel Victor Bonnici, 42, of Burmarrad was accused of having imported a considerable amount of cocaine and cannabis from Holland in 2001. During the investigations, it emerged that he had also been involved in the importation of the Dutch drugs consignment from Sicily on a boat. He was charged with conspiracy to import, sell or traffic drugs. In December 2001, the police Drugs Squad had foiled a plot to import a considerable amount of cocaine and cannabis, arresting 19 persons, some of them prison- ers at Corradino Correctional Fa- cility. The police had clandestine- ly observed a number of suspects for several months and cooper- ated with the Catania police who were also investigating this case. The plot was foiled when Ital- ian police stopped Fabio Psaila and Raymond Borg as they were collecting the drugs in Catania. More arrests followed. Mario Camilleri, Emanuel Camilleri, Charles Steven Mus- cat, John Camilleri, Romeo Bone, Yvette Muscat, Emanuela Camill- eri, Trudy Testa, Pierre Camilleri, Isaac Chetcuti, Emanuel Borg, Anthony Gatt, Carmen Armeni, Sylvana Bugeja, Juma Said Kar- foosh, Suzanne Abela, Alfred Bugeja and Albert Bugeja were all arrested and charged in connec- tion with the plot. Bonnici was indicted separately. Magistrate Francesco Depas- quale observed that after the in- dictments were issued between October 2009 and December 2014, absolutely nothing was done. After the Attorney General ordered that the case be heard by the Court of Magistrates as a court of Criminal Judicature and after being assigned the case in February 2015, magistrate De- pasquale had the unenviable task of sifting through 4,000 pages of documentation related to the case. The evidence tying Bonnici to the case was the fact that police had observed him lowering the boat into the water together with another man and sea-trailling it. Bonnici's statement to the police was declared inadmissible as it had been made without a lawyer's presence – a practice that was ac- ceptable at the time but which was subsequently ruled unconsti- tutional. In view of all this, the court ac- quitted Bonnici of all charges. Lawyer Giannella Demarco was defence counsel to Bonnici. Acquitted of drug trafficking after nine- year wait