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Karl Schembri
Welcoming police charges filed last week against the tenant of a shop next to St John’s Co-Cathedral who dug illegally under the church’s oratory, the Valletta Rehabilitation Committee has warned that even the capital’s underground network built by the Knights has been damaged by the excavations.
A spokesman for the committee told MaltaToday that the developer accused with damaging cultural heritage, Duncan Fenech, is also responsible for blocking a crucial entrance to the intricate network of underground passageways linking some of Valletta’s most important heritage landmarks.
The rehabilitation committee, which is responsible for monitoring the underground network spanning under all of Valletta, said the entrance was blocked with debris during the illegal excavations and cannot be restored as court procedures against Fenech are still ongoing.
“It’s a shame this has happened,” the spokesman said. “Apart from the actual damage, the developer has blocked this important entrance, which is also creating problems of humidity.”
Sources said Fenech will be arraigned in court later this year on charges filed last week, holding him responsible for damaging cultural heritage and with making excavations in an archaeological site without a permit from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.
Fenech is already being sued for damages by the Lands Department, which owns the building, for digging a cellar to change the Valletta outlet into a wine bar, cutting rock directly underneath the Cathedral Oratory last September.
The charges just filed by the police carry a maximum of six years imprisonment and up to Lm50,000 in fines if Fenech is found guilty.
Also described as “shameful” by the Executive Secretary of the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation Claude Busuttil, the works were carried out last year at 210C St Merchant’s Street, at the corner of St John’s Square, mainly at night to avoid scrutiny.
In the excavations, the nineteenth century unicorn fountain well and World War II shelters were damaged.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
Links:
www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/07/02/t20.html
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