Labour keeps up pressure on Fenech Adami villa, PN accuses government of deviation

Labour accuses Beppe Fenech Adami of institutionalised hypocrisy, PN insists that permits for Fenech Adami’s residential pool issued 18 years ago, in accordance with the planning policies in force at the time

The Labour Party is driving further the line that PN deputy leader for party affairs Beppe Fenech Adami is guilty of “institutionalised hypocrisy” over the manner in which his Gharghur villa was extended over and above planning limits.

It was the third press conference in three days by Minister Chris Cardona and the former PN mayor, now prospective Labour candidate, Ian Castaldi Paris, on the details concerning Fenech Adami’s villa in Gharghur: a property he purchased in 1994 which they claim has been developed outside the building zones and which benefited from a height extension that was against government policy.

“Fenech Adami had protested against a university [sic] that was going to be built outside development zones [at Zonqor],” economy minister Chris Cardona said with reference to the campus to be built in Marsaskala. “However, he himself had developed his house on ODZ land.”

The PL’s pressure on Fenech Adami comes in the wake of damning allegations against energy minister Konrad Mizzi over his offshore company in Panama, which he opened in 2015.

Castaldi Paris pressed on the alleged development irregularities carried out in Beppe Fenech Adami’s villa, describing the size of the deck and pool area as being “astronomically bigger... one and a half times the size of the new parliament square” and asking MEPA to investigate and take action on the issue.

Cardona said Fenech Adami was suffering from “institutionalised hypocrisy”, a dig at the PN deputy leader’s frequent criticism of the government’s “institutionalised corruption” and challenged Opposition leader Simon Busuttil to take action against Fenech Adami, questioning whether Busuttil’s failure to do so was a sign of weakness.

“It is unacceptable for a deputy leader to breach the conditions of a MEPA permit. MEPA’s responses are clear in that there were irregularities on Fenech Adami’s property that couldn’t be sanctioned.”

One News claimed this week that former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had personally requested MEPA to exclude Fenech Adami’s villa from a prohibition on height extensions. The PN government had in 2006 controversially enlarged the development zones; one of its beneficiaries was Fenech Adami, whose villa was originally built in a green area and was included in the new enlarged zones.

Fenech Adami has since sued One News for libel and accused them of propagating a lie. He denied that he had been given any form of preferential treatment for developing his house beyond its immediate limits, saying that the zoning of a neighbourhood accorded the same rights to every other property owner.

The story is being referred to by Labour supporters as ‘BeppeGate’, a reaction to the scandal dubbed ‘Panamagate’ – the term coined for revelations that energy minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri own offshore companies in Panama. However Cardona was curt when parallels were drawn with the socalled Panamagate issue.

When asked to clarify whether the government was implying that it was not acceptable for the PN’s deputy leader to have extended a villa into an ODZ area on one hand but that on the other hand, it would be acceptable were the Labour Party’s deputy leader to have opened a company to stash funds in a tax haven, Cardona replied that it was incorrect to state that any funds had been hidden, an investigation was underway.

“The Prime Minister has already said that he will take a decision based on the results of that investigation,” Cardona said.

Cardona dismissed as “a blast from the past” allegations that the MEPA application for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s house had been approved in just one month in 1998, under a previous Labour administration. The planning procedure in force at the time had been correctly followed, added Cardona. “There’s nothing illegal there.”

PN reaction

“For the third day running, Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri, through their spokesman Chris Cardona, are persisting in their lies about Dr Fenech Adami, lies which have been denied and which have triggered libel proceedings,” the PN said in a statement.

The PN insisted that the permits for Fenech Adami’s residential pool had been issued 18 years ago, in accordance with the planning policies in force at the time and dismisses as a lie, the assertions that the pool was over 50 square metres in size or that it boasted a deck larger than parliament square.

Also lies, added the PN, were the allegations made by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Chief of Staff Keith Schembri who had claimed that Fenech Adami’s home had been built in an ODZ area, breached planning regulations and had needed political intervention by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to get the permit issued. These were “recycled lies from years past,” said the party, pointing out that they had also been denied at the time.

“No intimidation by Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri is going to keep the Nationalist Party from continuing to expose the corruption of this, the most corrupt government in Maltese history.”