No investigation of Lands Authority over block of flats built on public land

The government has so far failed to order an investigation on a serious case of possible abuse of public land and corruption at the Lands Authority, revealed by The Shift last week.

An investigation showed that a tender issued for the sale of public land last January had already been compromised before its publication.

The land in question had already been illegally occupied for years by two businessmen who had turned it into a block of flats in Gozo.

The Lands Authority knew this because a valuation was carried out before the tender’s publication. Yet the Authority chose to legalise the abuse and sell the land to the illegal occupiers instead of taking legal action.

Through its actions, the Authority, entrusted to protect the public interest, abetted the two businessmen to make hundreds of thousands in profit from illegally occupied public land.

Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi remained tight-lipped when asked what action he would be taking to address this blunder, a deal approved by the Board of Governors of the Lands Authority.

The minister also refused to explain whether he had ordered an internal investigation.

The PN’s spokesman for Lands, Stanley Zammit, has also not commented on the scandal.

Sources have told The Shift that before the tender was issued last January, Lands Authority’s Chief Audit Officer Charmaine Muscat had reviewed the case file and consented.

According to an internal valuation report drawn up in November 2022 and seen by The Shift, the Internal Audit and Investigations Office declared that “there were no irregularities in the file related to this case”.

The tender concerns a 250-square-metre site in Triq ta’ Wara s-Sur, Victoria, Gozo.

This public land was occupied illegally by Ronnie and William Gatt, the owners of Gatt Tarmac Ltd, known as Ta’ Gianmaria, and turned into a block of apartments and penthouses.

The brothers made a false declaration to the Planning Authority twice, declaring that they owned the land when it was, in fact, public land.

Instead of acting to protect the public interest, Gozitan CEO Robert Vella issued a tender for the sale of the land on a temporary emphyteusis, which meant that the eventual owners would get a better deal.

Upon the tender’s closure, the only bid submitted was from Peggy and her husband, Ronnie Gatt, one of the two Gatt Tarmac brothers who occupied the site.