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Matthew Vella
Generoso Sammut, one of the shareholders of the Eliza Company Ltd which is currently in court over the eviction of Bahrija farmers, has been arraigned in court accused of forgery, along with a notary.
Notary Anthony Agius, 53, a former PN candidate from Qormi, and Sammut, were arraigned on Wednesday accused of forgery. Agius is accused of having used false signatures in public acts after these had been duly registered. He has also been accused of altering the substance of public acts through false declarations. As a notary public he was duty bound to prevent this from happening.
Sammut is also accused of forging a public act to the detriment of Nicholas Anthony Borg and his heir.
False heir
Sammut had already attempted to defraud his own sister of their aunt’s inheritance by fabricating a secret will for him to become the sole heir of Concetta Sammut’s wealth.
Sammut registered a claim to his aunt’s inheritance in court, one day after her death. In court he claimed he had taken his aunt to the office of Notary Antoine Agius in November 1996, where a ‘new’ will was drawn up, ordering the cancellation of her previous will, and identifying him as her sole heir.
According to police investigations however, Concetta Sammut’s signature on the secret will had not been genuine, with the Court finding the will was not authentic.
Sammut’s sister Mary Abela, whose aunt lived with her, had told the Court that Generoso would often ask for the aunt’s identity card to change the will because she wanted to leave her wealth to the Church: “He used to tell me of a good lawyer and a notary friend of his who would be able to take all her wealth with a stroke of a pen.”
Abela even claimed Concetta Sammut not only refused to speak to Generoso, but actually “feared him”.
Bahrija landowner
Eliza Company Ltd is currently embroiled in a contentious struggle with local farmers at Bahrija. Sammut and another company shareholder, former METCO chairman Norman Zammit and Sammut himself, also stand accused of having stolen paintings and furniture from Villa Fiorentina in Attard back in September 1999, to the detriment of the heirs of the late Joseph and Lilian Grungo.
Sammut has also been found guilty of threatening Labour MP Anglu Farrugia in an anonymous phone call. Farrugia was a lawyer acting for a group of Bidnija farmers.
In 2005, Eliza Company started marketing the sale of 1.5 million square metres of Bahrija land on the internet. The land was purchased off Salvatore Consoli-Palermo-Navarra, the 9th Count of Bahria, who lives in Sicily. Eliza Company is asking the Courts to evict the farmers on the land. The 1,500-tumolo area, known as il-Qortin and overlooking the bay at Fomm ir-Rih, is a green area and development there is prohibited. The farmers claim Eliza Company’s shareholders are trying to bully them off the land, which for the past 300 years has been leased to them and their ancestors. In September 2004, Eliza Company attempted to freeze the farmers’ bank accounts by asking for a garnishee order. They later successfully managed to get a warrant of prohibitory injunction preventing the farmers from walking on the land.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
Link:
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2005/05/22/t1.html
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