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Karl Schembri
Villa owners in the once posh Mellieha estate of Santa Marija may finally get their roads serviced by millionaire property magnate Bertu Mizzi, who has for years refused to honour maintenance agreements with residents for the exclusive area.
The receiver of an OBE by the Queen has been rejecting the residents’ pleas to fork out the expenses for the upkeep of the exclusive private estate that is quickly turning into a concrete maze with new buildings, despite contractual obligations which put the responsibility of road maintenance on Mizzi’s company Cenmed Ltd, that sold the land.
The company was in fact bound to take care of the construction of the roads, drainage systems, electricity, water and other services. A court had upheld a lawsuit filed by the residents and the Mellieha council for Mizzi to honour his contractual obligations.
In June 2003, the Civil Court decreed that Cenmed was obliged by law to build access roads to the villas in the estate and to pay for their maintenance, as well as to provide drainage, water and electricity systems within three months of the verdict. The sentence was confirmed by an Appeals Court decision last February.
He later filed a procedural appeal to counter parts of the Appeals Court decision. The judges for the procedural appeal were the same who decided the earlier appeals case. In his latest attempt at avoiding the maintenance costs, Mizzi filed a constitutional case last year where he petitioned to revoke an appeals court decision to stay the execution of the original court sentence against him.
He claimed that his human rights were being breached given that the judges who were called to decided on his appeal on this matter – Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano, Anton Depasquale and Alberto Magri – were those that had turned down his request to stay the execution of the court’s original sentence. Last week, the Constitutional Court presided over by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco however turned down Mizzi’s request, latest case, indirectly reconfirming the original sentence obliging him to fork out the money and resources for the maintenance at Santa Marija Estate. The high class private neighbourhood once enticed rich dwellers to live in detached bungalows in an exclusive area at the foot of the Mellieha cliffs where only 20 per cent of each plot could be built, but for the last six years Mizzi has been waiving contracts for up to a Lm15,000 fee so that owners could build more on the former quaint green valley.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
Links: www.maltatoday.com.mt/2005/11/27/t3.html
www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/08/27/t16.html
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