‘If Abela has shred of respect, he’d sack Borg over illegal swimming pool’ – PN

Nationalist Party says Malta does not deserve a minister found guilty four times on planning illegalities

In 2019, the courts ruled that the PA had used a policy not applicable to the rural area to grant Borg a permit to turn ODZ land into a swimming pool and recreational area
In 2019, the courts ruled that the PA had used a policy not applicable to the rural area to grant Borg a permit to turn ODZ land into a swimming pool and recreational area

The Nationalist Party said that if Prime Minister Robert Abela still had a shred of respect for his position, he would sack Foreign Minister Ian Borg, after he was found guilty for a fourth time of illegally building a swimming pool on his Rabat virgin land.

PN MPs Mark Anthony Sammut and Stanley Zammit held a Saturday press conference in front of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in which they called out Borg for his arrogance and the PM for his inaction.

On Wednesday, Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti ruled that Planning Authority was wrong to grant Borg and his wife a permit to build a pool and accompanying amenities at their property in the hamlet of Santa Katerina in Rabat.

Sammut referred to an Ombudsman report in December 2015 that said that Borg chose a “devious method” in his application.

“This is not a mistake – this was definitely not a mistake. It cannot be pinned down to a human error put points to a deliberate attempt to remove the last remaining obstacle for the application,” Sammut quoted from the report.

He also mentioned how in December 2020, with Robert Abela already a Prime Minister, Borg had lost a libel lawsuit he had filed against the Malta Independent for an article that had claimed that Borg had acquired the land for a suspiciously low price from a mentally ill man, under dubious circumstances.

The magistrate had said that Borg’s testimony was not credible.

Sammut also said that in June 2019, the Court of Appeals had declared the first permit for the development as null. “Ian Borg appealed again in court but, arrogantly, he still went ahead with the works,” Sammut said.

The PN MP said that the court said that the Planning Authority had defied its own policies by sanctioning the permit.

“Our country does not deserve a minister who was found guilty of such illegalities. We are not dealing with unethical behaviour here but with illegalities and deviance,” Sammut said.

He called out Prime Minister Robert Abela for not sacking Borg from the cabinet.

“If Robert Abela still has a shred of respect for his position, the rule of law, and the country's reputation – considering that Borg is Foreign Affairs Ministry, he would remove Borg from the cabinet,” Sammut said.

PN MP Stanley Zammit said that the case officer that recommended the permit was the same one that had refused the 2012 application.

“The case officer recommended the permit for the same land, under the same policies but this time under new owners [...] the culture of impunity and lack of accountability encourages other abuse. This is institutionalised anarchy,” Zammit said.

He accused the Labour government of strategically splitting planning and the environment and putting forward vague proposals for rural developments to give their blessing for similar developments on virgin land.