Former PN MP Jason Azzopardi has requested another magisterial inquiry, this time concerning the Lands Authority CEO, Robert Vella, regarding several transfers of public land to the private sector.
Azzopardi, in the magisterial inquiry request request, is alleging possible crimes including bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence, misappropriation, among others.
The lawyer referred to many news articles regarding land transfers, among others mentioning Mellieha heights, where open space was transferred to developer Paul Attard despite there being strong opposition to its development. He also made reference to the Villa Rosa project, where developer Anton Camilleri bought a public alley in St George’s Bay reportedly for just €134,000. Another of the articles dealt with 250 square metres of public land in Gozo being transferred.
Azzopardi requested the magisterial inquiry to preserve any evidence, and said that it is only through the elevation of servers at Vella’s office, the Estate Management Division and other Lands Authority offices, as well as mobile phones etc, that the material subject of the alleged offences can be preserved.
In his court filings, Azzopardi writes that Vella went out of his way to enable private entities to save tens of millions of euros at the expense of the public treasury, and consequently the national interest. He also alleges that Vella “deliberately failed to safeguard the interests of the public administration (whose duty is supposed to be the protection of the public treasury) in order to strongly favour private interests,” and alleges that this was “criminal actions carried out with criminal intent.”