Prime Minister learned of Old Mint Street expropriation ‘through the media’

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat learned of the part-expropriation of the palazzo in Old Mint Street to Marco Gaffarena through the media, arguing that political responsibility over the case had already been shouldered through the resignation of former junior minister, Michael Falzon.

Muscat was testifying in the court case he filed against Gaffarena to recoup the lands transferred. The court has been asked to revoke all transfers made in terms of two expropriation contracts. It was also asked to order the Gaffarenas to return all assets to government. In 2015, government paid €1.65 million for part ownership of the Valletta property that Gaffarena had bought for a fraction of the price just weeks earlier.

Testifying this morning, Muscat denied responsibility for the expropriation, arguing that his role was to offer “a general direction” to the parliamentary secretariat for lands.

Muscat said that, following the investigation by the Auditor General, he felt that the right thing to do was to recoup the lands; political responsibility, he added, was shouldered when Falzon resigned his ministerial responsibilities.

An inquiry by the OPM’s internal audit and investigations department (IAID) revealed that the lands granted to Gaffarena as payment for the Valletta property expropriated from him, was in excess of a legal 30% ceiling which such land valuations cannot exceed.

The Auditor General later established that the standards expected in terms of good governance were lacking when the Government Property Department issued fast-track expropriations for Gaffarena for just a 50% ownership of the Valletta palazzo.