Who is the man behind an illegal villa being built in Armier?

Franklin Mangion is the man building a villa in Armier while the Planning Authority (PA) and the rest of the country looks on.

Mangion is a minority shareholder in Solitaire Property Ltd, a property development company currently in dissolution.

The 48-year-old is also the sole shareholder and director of Admin Services Ltd, a company based in Mellieħa that provides condominium administration services.

Mangion has been the source of controversy in recent weeks due to the fact that he is building an illegal villa in Armier, while authorities look on and issue fines without stopping construction.

READ ALSO | Toothless PA looks on as man ignores enforcement order and continues building illegal villa at Armier

Public knowledge of his illegalities comes after monitoring of the Armier site from the Malta Ranger Unit (MRU).

Speaking to MaltaToday, the MRU provided a timeline of the illegal works. 

On 28 May, the NGO noted concrete blocks being offloaded from a truck. Planning Authority officials arrived at the site some 90 minutes after the MRU reported the case, but by that time, workers had left the area. Two days later, hundreds of other concrete blocks arrived at the site.

On 3 June at around 1pm, workers were on site putting the blocks in their place. On this day, the PA were alerted once again, and an individual was seen with a worker at the site. The PA informed the MRU that an officer was on site and had spoken to the owner, ordering a stop to the works.

Two days later, workers arrived on site and started assembling walls, and once again, the PA arrived 10 minutes after workers had left.

On 6 June, plastering works were done. The MRU were told that the case manager would be informed of the update.

Now, the structure is fully built and includes a roof. 

The NGO had first reported the site days before the general election, when it consisted only of pallets and concrete blocks. The MRU then released images showing that the structure has since developed rapidly and now appears to have taken the shape of a villa.

According to the rangers, several reports had been filed with the PA, which allegedly confronted the contravenor and informed him that he had 16 days to restore the site.

Meanwhile, the Mellieħa Local Council implored the Planning Authority to enforce its own notice and intervene on the site.

In an email sent on Wednesday morning to the Planning Authority's enforcement complaints unit and the Qawra police station, Micallef said works appear to have continued unabated despite the issuance of Enforcement Notice EC/00071/26, which requires the site to be restored to its original state within a stipulated timeframe.