Revealed: Lands Minister’s links to developer set to acquire public land in Mellieha worth millions

Lands Minister Silvio Schembri is using a constituency office in Luqa situated within a new apartment block built by Paul Attard, a director and shareholder of leading construction company GAP Developments.

Investigations carried out by The Shift show that the minister does not own the office.

Attard, meanwhile, is the majority shareholder of a company currently eyeing the controversial takeover of a large tract of public land in Mellieha issued for sale by the Lands Authority at much lower than current market rates and under unusual circumstances.

Minister Silvio Schembri, politically responsible for the Lands Authority and holding direct control over it, refuses to explain his connection to Paul Attard. Nor will he declare who owns the Luqa office or whether he is allowed to use it free of charge by the development’s owner.

On his part, Attard, who is also the secretary general of the Malta Developers Association (MDA) and one of the island’s leading developers, ignored questions from The Shift despite several reminders.

The Luqa apartment, set up with large displays portraying the lands minister, is located on the corner of a new block of flats built by Attard on Triq Gorg Zahra and Triq Geraldu Spiteri.

Neighbours have informed The Shift that the minister and several staff members have been using the office for at least two years since the block was completed for constituents to meet the minister who lives in the same locality.

According to his declaration of assets submitted to parliament, Schembri does not own the office.

The apartment block is part of a large and controversial development that has turned the last remaining open space in Luqa into blocks holding over 100 apartments.

It was built through several planning applications submitted by Attard’s architect Colin Zammit, the last of which dates back to 2019.

In his last application, Attard submitted and obtained the PA’s permission to change the original plans to squeeze an office into one of the blocks’ ground floors instead of an originally-planned residential unit. The alteration to the original plans resulted in the office Schembri is occupying.

The Shift asked Schembri to explain who owns the office, whether he is paying any rent, and to provide proof of payments and/or a lease contract. But the minister refused to reply.

Attard was asked whether he is renting out the office to the lands minister or allowing Schembri to use it for free. He was also asked whether he had transferred the building’s title to someone else, including the minister or one of his relatives.

Attard has also refused to reply.

Attard, Schembri and Mellieha’s green lung

Only a few weeks ago, The Shift drew attention to a tender issued by the Lands Authority that would see some 4,000 square metres of land serving as Mellieha Heights residents’ green lung, being sold for development into massive blocks of apartments.

The tender was issued with the proviso that the right of first refusal would go to the property owner abutting the tract of public land – an unusual clause.

The Shift revealed further that a company in which Attard is the majority shareholder, T&S Property Holdings Ltd, owns a comparatively small parcel of land sandwiched in the middle of the public land being offered by tender – meaning the company would eventually have the right of first refusal on the entire area.

It is unclear when the company acquired the plot of land, but the company was only set up in 2021.

When the deadline for the submission of offers closed two weeks ago, Paul Attard, through T&S Property Holdings, which he owns with Paul Vella known as Tal-Ballut, submitted an offer that matched the Lands Authority’s asking price.

Two other offers were higher than that of T&S Property Holdings Ltd. They were submitted by Attard Developments Ltd, in conjunction with Vassallo Group Realty Ltd, and the other was by North Delux Developments Ltd. Neither has so far filed a complaint on the state of affairs.

Because of the right of first refusal the Lands Authority inserted into the tender, the Mellieha land, which has a market value of around €12 million, according to industry sources, will probably be handed over to T&S Property Holdings Ltd for a fraction of its value.

A petition signed by hundreds of the area’s residents against the development has so far been ignored.