[WATCH] PN insists Gaffarena expropriation was a political decision

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The Nationalist Party today reiterated that the decision to expropriate half a property in Old Mint Street in Valletta for €1.65 million from Mark Gaffarena was a “political” and not administrative decision.

Shadow energy minister Marthese Portelli pointed fingers at parliamentary secretary for planning Michael Falzon, who recently admitted to having signed the valuation of the 50% share in the building that houses the government offices of the Building Industry Consultative Council. 

“When Falzon first addressed the press the day after the scandal broke, he said that he wasn’t involved at all,” Portelli told a press conference outside Castille. “The same day, the Prime Minister said that no investigations into the expropriation were necessary as there was nothing criminal about making a profit.

“The government keeps changing its tune whenever it has its back against a wall.”

In January this year, the government paid Gaffarena €822,500 for a quarter of the property that he had bought in December 2007. A month later, Gaffarena bought another quarter of the property for €139,762, which the government subsequently expropriated for another €822,500 in April.

The money was paid in cash and lands that were of strategic and commercial importance to Gaffarena- land parcels at White Rocks, Ta’ Kandja, Handaq, Zebbug, and a property in Triq Manwel Dimech, Sliema.

Shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi said that the decision to expropriate a fraction of a property was uncommon and that it was “grossly over-valued” as it was evaluated as a building site, rather than as a historical site.

“Who asked the architect to evaluate the building as a building site?” Azzopardi questioned, while pointing out that Falzon had earlier described the building as one with historical value.

He also questioned why the government only decided to expropriate two quarters of the property, why they didn’t expropriate both quarters at the same time, and who chose the lands that the government granted to Gaffarena as part of the agreement.

He added that independent architects had valued those lands at a much higher price than the government-appointed ones had.

“Expropriation is a political decision, not an administrative one, and political responsibility must therefore be shouldered,” Azzopardi said, adding that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is the minister responsible for lands.

“Governments expropriate private property when they want to use it for a public purpose and the government could easily have housed the BICC elsewhere. They had no reason to expropriate the building used to house the BICC when those offices could easily have been relocated elsewhere.”

Opposition MP Ryan Callus again questioned why Muscat has refused to allow the Auditor General to investigate the case itself and instead requested the Internal Audit and Investigations Department to conduct a separate inquiry.