In the Press: Gaffarena personally asked for expropriation

Malta Today

Parliamentary Secretary for planning Michael Falzon said that it was property owner Marco Gaffarena who personally petitioned the Government Property Division to have his share of the Valletta palazzo on Old Mint Street expropriated during the summer of 2014. In an interview with Malta Today, Falzon said that despite rubber stamping the controversial €1.65 million expropriation , he did nothing irregular.

Illum

The new Sir Anthony Mamo oncology hospital could have resulted in €22 million worth of expired equipment. The hospital had been so long in the making under the Nationalist government that the already ordered equipment had already become outdated for current needs. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne made the revelations during an exclusive interview with Illum. He added that a ‘state of the art’ hospital is not based solely on the building but even on the equipment and services provided.

The Sunday Times of Malta

The Prime Minister will attempt to reclaim the public assets given to Mark Gaffarena in the controversial expropriation of a Valletta property if any wrongdoing is established, according to a government spokesman. Joseph Muscat gas asked the Attorney General what legal options are open to the government should the two investigations into the scandal expose fraud or corruption. The deal is likely to be contested if it emerges that the value of the public land given to Gaffarena exceeds 30% of the value of the expropriated land.

Il-Mument

The paper reports public works carried out with the express purpose to accommodate Transport Minister Joe Mizzi. Investigations into reports of works in a small road in Labour Road, Zabbar, revealed that government workers were building a low wall to separate the fields from the main road. According to sources, the road is used by Mizzi every day, but it is unknown whether the building is registered under his name or not.

Kull Hadd

The Nationalist Party continues to dim down investments in the country. After sending its journalists to follow a potential Chinese investor in the national airport, the party is once again trying its best to stop investment in the new university of the south. The Nationalist Vice Mayor, David Thake arrogantly tried to intimidate the investors in a recorded telephone conversation which was transmitted on Radio 101 without permission.

It-Torċa

A group of informers, who include public officials in highly sensitive positions at the MFSA and NSO, are passing on information to Tonio Fenech, before it even reaches the government using a Google group named “Finance Shadow Group”. This is intended to “develop partisan strategies that will  damage the Government, particularly in the Financial sector,” reads the report.

No government architects were sent to evaluate the Valletta property bought by Marco Gaffarena in 2007, meaning government “may have lost thousands in tax revenue.”

The Malta Independent

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said that he “will reverse the Gaffarena deal” if he finds it to have been dishonest. Government will be launching parallel investigations into MEPA and the Lands Department, it says.