The Yana Mintoff/Charles Polidano land deal scandal: there should be a public inquiry
The land which the Mintoff sisters sold to Charles Polidano for development is shaded in yellow. The building development boundary is a red dotted line. You can see clearly that the building zone boundary was pushed awkwardly beyond its natural delineation to accommodate the land in the Polidano/Mintoff deal, rocketing its value from negligible, as agricultural land, to astronomical.
Some telling details have emerged since I published the contract of a EUR3.6 million land deal between Dom Mintoff’s daughters, Labour star candidate Yana Mintoff Bland and Anne McKenna, and one of Charles Polidano’s companies.
At some point in the last few years, the Development Zone boundary was diverted awkwardly and beyond its natural delineation to include the agricultural land which Yana and Anne Mintoff owned, and which they then sold – after this scandalous exercise in their favour – to a development company owned by Charles Polidano (Ic-Caqnu).
As agricultural land, their property was of relatively little value. Once it had been improperly included in a building development zone, its price sky-rocketed. Left-click on the map shown here to see the full, scandalous nature of the building development zone boundary to include the Mintoff agricultural land: their land is shaded in yellow. The building development zone boundary is the red dotted line.
That’s the first scandalous revelation.
The second one is that the Mintoff sisters appear to have worked in collusion with Charles Polidano’s business, on this piece of land, even before they actually sold it to him.
In 2008, a year before the contract of sale was signed, Kurt Cini – a director of GINWI Co Ltd, the Polidano Group company which bought the land – applied for a full development permit (PA/0434/08) to construct flats, penthouses and garages on the land, which was at that point still owned by Yana Mintoff and her sister. This application is still pending.
More disgustingly still, in 1996 Anthony Cassar de Sain, whose family had sold the land to the Mintoff sisters for an agricultural-land price of Lm4,000, applied for a development permit (PA/04509/96) for a piece of land that was originally part of the same estate and adjacent to the Mintoff land. The permit was refused outright on the correct grounds that the site was ODZ (outside the development zone).
By 2004, however, the development zone boundary had been stretched out of its natural delineation to include the Mintoff fields, which were then – oh wonder of wonders – no longer ODZ.
In sum, the Cassar de Sains could not get a building permit for their agricultural land because it was ODZ. So they sold the land cheaply, at agricultural land prices, to Mintoff’s daughters.
When Mintoff’s daughters were safely in possession of it, the ODZ boundary was warped into a very curious shape to exclude only the Mintoff sisters’ land and a little bit that couldn’t be avoided without making the purpose of the warp even more bloody obvious than it is already.
And suddenly, the land was worth millions.
Unfortunately, this brings to mind the way their father was given a million euros as compensation for having a power station built close to his SECONDARY home. This was not compensation for the expropriation of that secondary home, you understand, but compensation for pain and suffering and loss of value. And that Delimara dump wasn’t even worth a fourth of that million euros to begin with.
The compensation award to Dom Mintoff was in the hands of the courts of law. But the ODZ/development zone boundaries are not. There should be an immediate inquiry into how and why the ODZ boundary was warped quite specifically to accommodate Dom Mintoff’s daughters and make their agricultural land worth millions, when the previous owners, denied this privilege, were obliged to sell it for virtually nothing.
This is absolutely scandalous on several levels. If the Malta Environment & Planning Authority is prepared to accommodate Dom Mintoff’s daughters with Labour in opposition, heaven knows what things are going to be like when they are in power and have far greater clout.
The extent of the Polidano Group’s collusion with Yana and Anne Mintoff should be assessed, particularly now that it has become very obvious that Labour politicians are throwing their parties, including wedding receptions, at the Monte Kristo Polidano estate with monotonous regularity.
The posturing Yana Mintoff has been unmasked as her father’s daughter in much more than mere physiognomy.
And for those who still stupidly insist that this is just a straight business deal and so what, here’s what is now the most crucial point of all: leverage.
The Polidano Group’s application to build flats, garages and penthouses, on what was agricultural land until Mintoff’s daughters bought it, is still pending. So is a significant part of the monies owed to the Mintoff sisters.
Within a few months, Labour will be in government and Yana Mintoff will be a government politician. The cut-off point for payment is November this year. If this is reneged upon, the inherent risks are apparent: Polidano putting pressure on government politician Yana Mintoff to put pressure on the MEPA to get his permit approved, failing which he will not have the money to pay her.
The rest of the scandal, of course, is that the press is so weak.
Kurt Cini, a director, applied for a development permit for the Mintoff land a year before GINWI Co Ltd actually bought it
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Cassar Desain – yes, that is definitely patrician.
Hold it. Last time you said they sold in 1986. Now you’re implying they sold in 1996!
Daph – what’s wrong??
[Daphne – Read it again, Reporter. Sometimes I get tired of writing English for speakers of Globish, and succumb to the wondrous temptations of complicated sentences.]
Hehe, you changed the text!
[Daphne – No, I haven’t. I’m curious now: what exactly is your interest in this particular subject?]
I don’t understand your question.
Daphne has a habit of editing the text …. Daphne you aren’t so clever darling if you were you would be selling properties at 3.6 million xoxo pupa
[Daphne – No, Work Harder, if I were really clever I would be working on a cure for cancer, or the human genome project. But you probably think that’s for stupid people, because with chavs and other similar sorts of primitive people, it’s all about the money, which they then don’t have the skills, talents, capacity or real intelligence to enjoy, or the breeding to use for the benefit of those less fortunate than they.]
What makes you think I don’t help people …or that the people you criticize don’t help poeple… If you earned 3 million you can donate them . … U chose to spend your days criticizing chavs and hamalli … What makes you so not primitive … You remind me of when I was ten at school … When I’d spend my days commenting on others .. Probably you hate people so much because no so many people can stand you … Why don’t you try and help people with cancer …Or do you prefer showing people how many words in the dictionary you know !! Or or Or are you really admitting how stupid and less fortunate u r !!!
[Daphne – What makes me think you don’t help people is your attitude. Please ring Mintoff’s daughters and ask them whether they plan to donate their EUR3.6 million. I don’t spend my day criticising chavs and hamalli – just a few seconds or so, which is about as long as it takes to type a sentence. The rest of the day is spent working or amusing myself. What makes me ‘so not primitive’ is a mixture of luck, genes, upbringing and personal choices. I didn’t need you to tell me you were the sort to sit in a corner and criticise people when you were a child. I was a child too, and I well remember that sort. It was actually worse when we were adolescents: the creepy boys who felt rejected before even trying were absolutely awful, sitting on the railings and bitching like old ladies. I don’t hate people; I find them fascinating, which is just as well as they are my subject matter. That so many people can’t stand me is neither here nor there. I’m not after votes. There is also a flipside, which is that so many people quite like me. I am indifferent to this aspect as well, but I suspect that it is probably a whole lot better to having only a few people being aware of your existence, which is the general human experience and almost certainly yours (though I’d quite like to know what that feels like, never really having experienced it). I have no idea how to help people with cancer, but I do my bit for others. Words are perforce in the dictionary – no need to specify it. I don’t learn them from a dictionary. I don’t consider myself less fortunate than others. On the contrary, I think I’ve been pretty lucky in most respects. I am certainly not stupid, though I’ll admit I’m no Stephen Hawking.]
Gej bid-“darling’ u “pupa”! WorkHarder is yet another misogynist dimwit whose only measure of worth is one’s bank account balance.
Fatti una cultura, WorkHarder! Read about Rita Levi-Montalcini, and see whether Britney Spjers is ‘cleverer’ just because she’s way richer.
[Daphne – Leave him be, Dust. We’re dealing here, in large part, with people whose parents and grandparents slept on straw on the stable-floor, or six to a bed in a two-room tenement. It’s obvious that they are going to equate brains and success with the acquisition of money. This is an evolutionary process. Within a couple of generations their children will have cut-glass accents, have married into the ‘right’ families and have sons working as missionary eye doctors and daughters campaigning for the Red Cross. And they’ll act as though any talk of money is absolutely distasteful.]
Where are the tree huggers? And Astrid Vella and her Ghal Ambjent Ahjar? Alternattiva Demokratika?
What a deafening silence.
And how about the MEPA auditor?
Err, a PN administration is to answer for this.
[Daphne – Yes, that’s my point.]
Hear, hear.
JPO’s Mistragate affair pales into significance, especially when one takes into account the timing when these abuses from some mole in MEPA took place.
I was always of the opinion that in MEPA, planted moles were doing their utmost to accomodate Labourite clients whilst enforcing unpopular and often illogical action timed to co incide uncannily within days of announcements made by Prime Minister that he was open for people’s concerns and opinion.
I doubt of a PN administration will ever hold an inquiry about this issue. The PN owe Mintoff a lot, if it was not for him, the PN may still be in opposition.
Maybe Mintoff made a packet for voting against Labour in 1998.
Maybe this is all part of the same deal.
Whoever is in government, the ordinary taxpayer gets shafted.
I’m voting for Guido Fawkes.
I was told that Mintoff often had visitors from the Libyan embassy. I wonder if cash transactions took place.
In fact, the scandal here is corruption under the Nationalist administration. Something tells me that this is just the tip of the iceberg
.
I have to admit it. ..this a a disgrace.
That plot of land is on the outskirts of Marsaxlokk, on the right going down along the road from tal-Barrani. It is clearly visible on google maps http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=35.842834,14.541296&spn=0.002766,0.00515&t=h&z=18
Yes it is clearly agricultural land.
I think I will apply to build on that roundabout.
Or build anyway and get retrospective permissions.
How much do I need to stuff in a brown envelope?
Scandalous.
Where’s Astrid Vella now?
Maybe she is looking for her megaphone? I do not think so.
I am reminded of LEGALITY NOW. LEGALITY NOW.
Snoozing by some posh swimming pool
At the hairdressers, putting on the latest tint.
Now this is a true scandal of national interest. Thank you Daphne for investigating it.
There are, without any doubt, all the elements for a public enquiry. Where is the auditor of the MEPA?
This matter shall be dealt with immediately by the Office of the Ombudsman and the new Commissioner for the Environment. And the MEPA shall hold its own enquiry.
The Ombudsman may refuse to initiate an inquiry because nobody made a formal complaint. In fact many excuses will be found to avoid any embarrassing (for MLP) issue to be discussed now that we are near the potential crowning of a 39 year-old PM.
Sometime – and by sometimes I mean often – I just feel like doing a Dom and copy-pasting your articles and sending them to The Times.
Well, who is gong to be held politically accountable for this scandal?
That is what is being asked by who have been in recent years , haressed unmercifully for real or imaginary slights,by that vote loser par eccellance of MEPA .
Providing good jobs, health care and education and attracting foreign investment is fine. However, It is abuse of this sort that forms the bulk of disgruntlement in Nationalist voters.
Prime minister and minister in charge of MEPA please note.
Now, these are developments (no pun intended) where an adjective like “Sicilian” will not be adequate. They are at a higher level. It brings to mind a declaration of not so long ago from a prominent political leader that minor changes on the periphery on ODZ (or something along this vein) might be considered.
Are we to add Marsaxlokk to Mistra?
Add Mrsaxlokk and Mistra?
Marsaxlokk and Mistra were the reason for Joseph’s statement in order to prepare us, in advance, of what to expect if he and his political party is elected come next election.
An inquiry should be held to determine how this agricultural land was turned into a building zone. Someone at the MEPA should be held responsible.
These are the things that are turning away voters from the Nationalist Party. Everything upside down and no one is accountable.
Had it not been for you, Daphne, many abuses are still hidden under the carpets. Gonzi’s government is just a lame duck and has not the guts to get to the offenders.
If this were a normal country, Astrid would chain herself to the gates Xintill Street, go on hunger strike and protest in her trademark squeakily vociferous manner with all her might.
But of course, this is anything but a normal country.
She could also dye her hair jet black in protest against this ILLEGALITY.
Remember that Joseph said certain decisions shall fall outside Mepa’s remit, anytime he feels it won’t be competent.
Is it a coincidence that this administration has had to face repeated votes of confidence? One can’t just ignore Joseph’s record to date.
In other words, does the pressure to get elected tally with the 8% interest clause? Quite a peculiar clause that, it seems to offest some verbal guarantee that the deal depends on external factors. If I were Polidano, I would do the same.
Ah yes, then there’s Montebello in Xemxija, the djar ghal komunita’, Ta’ Cenc, so many difficult decisions to take.
A national public enquiry because of a curved red line?
I am off to buy that piece of land behind the yellow one. Then I will be off to MEPA to straighten the red line once again, and there will be no need for a national enquiry.
Do you have Lm4,000 to lend me (at no interest), Baxxter?
My mum, bless her, was not a usurer, but she taught me never to do business deals with strangers with funny names.
@Baxxter …good one :)
kemm se tibki fil-11 ta’ novembru meta tara r-rizultati tal-elezzjoni, jew tircivi xi sms minghand xi habib tieghek li jghidlek li tliftu l-elezzjoni
ara kemm ha tiehu te bil-lumi u taghmel immerraq!!! LOL
possibli qed tahseb li billi qed tikteb dal-hmieg kollu u hdura kontra shabek u hutek maltin qed tahseb li qed tghin lil partit nazzjonalista? jiena certa li iktar qed taghmillu hsara, apparti xi erba ferhanin hawn li joqghodu jghidulek prosit ghandi dubji kemm in-nazzjonalisti li maggior parti huma moderati qed jiehdu gost bik! – fosthom il-futur kap tal-PN dr. demarco…. li diga keccik minn mat-times… tiftakar?
anyway.. issa probabli ma ggibux il-kumment tieghi ux? imma ghalinqas xorta li kelli nghidlek ghidtulek biex forsi xi darba trattab qalbek u ma tibqax kattiva ma hutek il-maltin daqshekk…
…ovvjament jekk iggib il-kumment tieghi ha taghmel xi kumment editorjali fejn tghid kemm il-laburisti ma nafux niktbu bil-malti u ghandna argumenti stupidi…. imma hemmhekk ikollok zball ukoll ghax jiena minix laburista imma ex-pn li mhux se nivvota did-darba…. habba nies bhalek specjalment
[Daphne – Ghaliex tahseb li se nibki meta nara r-rizultat tal-elezzjoni, meta diga kullhadd jafu? U hag’ohra: m’inhiex it-tip li nibki. L-isterizmu u l-biki idejjaqni. Il-biki, specjalment fil-pubbliku, narah forma ta’ hamallagni.]
@ Josephine Borg
l-unika haga mmerqa hija l-livell ta’ ‘IQ’ li ghandek. Jekk ma tafx xi tfisser ‘IQ”, idhol Google u fittixha.
Ms Borg, hafna ser jibku ezatt wara l-elezzjoni.
L-ohrajn, fosthom inti, ser tibki ftit xhur wara meta tinduna li ghal darba ohra il-partit tieghek ikun tnejjek bik wahda papali.
Ghal uliedna…u uliedkom ukoll…
Labour. Futur li jixraq lil uliedna. Futur li nghaqqduhom.
This definitely fits the bill of brown envelopes and somebody getting stitched up. Enquiry please (pretty please if you must)
Daphne, we Maltese should worship at your feet. And our pressmen should just just check themselves into a knacker’s yard.
Amen to that, Baxxter. As you and I discussed earlier today, Malta is so fortunate that she has remained on our shores. Imagine what she could have done if she had joined the New York Times and teamed up with the likes of Maureen Dowd and unearthed the skulduggery of 250 million people.
As for the local ‘pressmen’, useless, incompetent, naive ass-lickers.
Safe trip and good luck in your new endeavour, my friend.
Thank God someone makes these things known!
We thought such deals ended with Lorry Sant.
All this bluff, is this the first such deal under the GonziPN regime
[Daphne – Why don’t you ring Yana Mintoff and ask her? She might have sold more land.]
@ Carmel
It’s mind boggling how you lot keep on talking about a ‘regime’.
It’s either you have no idea what the word means, or else you are stupid to believe the staple shit the powers that (want to) be at the CNL in Hamrun give you on a daily basis.
Sadly, I guess it is a mix of both.
Thank you for bringing to light such ‘HNIZRIJIET’. I declare that I am a staunch Nationalist and if no SERIOUS investigations are held forthwith, I would say goodbye to the Nationalist Party after some 60 years ‘tesserat’, until a new leadership takes over.
And pray how does doing that help? You just give more strength to the MLP and the likes of Yana Bland.
Do you honestly think they are going to fix things? The PN is far from perfect but there is more chance of the right thing happening with them at the helm.
They don’t always get it right but on balance of probability there is more chance that they will rather than that other lot, most of whom personally have their own fingers directly in the pie.
What irks me is the silence of the press. Where are all you Times journalists? What about The Malta Independent? Disclosing these stories might actually improve its readership.
Insejt lil dak il genju Saviour Balzan. Fejn irid biss jaf jizzatat.
@J. M.Spiteri .. I tend to agree with you. I am toying with the same idea as you.
Welcome back, Daphne. I hope you enjoyed your well-deserved break.
This blog is possibly the best online journalism website in Malta.
Keep it up.
Something tells me that this won’t make it to the news. This coupled with the fact that Mintoff was awarded a million euros is proof that Mintoffians still have influence in Malta.
Any future contender for the post of PN leader, (irrespective of whether the PN will be on the government benches or the opposition ones) and who plans to contest the forthcoming general elections would be wise to invest time and effort in getting himself enough votes to get re-elected to parliament FIRST.
Charity begins at home with one’s own constituents and not with Mintoffians who will vote MLP no matter what,
This latest evidence of pandering to Mintoffian interests by the biggest PN vote-loser of all time is going to be the last straw for still undecided floating voters and disillusioned Nationalists.
Probabilment il-perit tal- ‘Mepa Watch’ ta’ malta Today, Robert Musumeci, xorta jiggustifika dan it-tbazwir u jdur ma xi interpretazzjoni ta’ xi ligi li ma jkun jafa hadd.
He’s too busy processing another prospective Labour minister’s applications.
Exactly. U Alla jbierek kollha jgibomla zewgt.
What has the leader of the neo Mintoffian party of Malta to say when confronted with concrete evidence of this scandal involving one of his star candidates ?
Will he insist that she withdraws her candidature?
My other question is this;
How come FAA have kept quiet so far about this? Is it because,like MEPA it is infiltrated by Labour rodents?
This alludes to evidence of a scandal which includes the authorities – MEPA – supposdly anserable to the current administration. They are all in it together – (PN AND PL)!! Where is the previous map of the ODZ map – or is this the first ?- who authorised the change – or the direction of the boundary?
If the press is so weak, what about the government ?
Political responsibility for MEPA rests with the executive and especially with its head.
We eagerly await answers about this ‘hnizrija’ from the PM.
No more no less. If he is too engrossed with Franco’s antics to run the country, then an early election is very much in order.
And the sooner the better.
I was half hoping that at least PBS and NET news would make some reference , in this evening’s news to the hard evidence presented here of what can be perceived as blatant discrimination against the DeSain family in order to favour in the most blatant fashion ,the Mintoff family .
If this scoop was made elsewhere in the civilized world where free speech is a fact not fiction , journalists would be fighting tooth and nail for hourly updates on the revelation and not make themselves conspicuous by their total silence on the matter.
The Mintoff legacy is still capable of instilling terror on the media in general from teh grave, even on those too young to remember the full horror of the regime of the seventies and eighties.
Yes sure ODZ boundaries were changed, stretched and played with and approved by the PN/Gonzi’s cabinet… including the boundaries at Safi to please the Mintoffs and of course PN donor Caqnu (or ex-donor!?) … obviously Caqnu is now “investing” in Labour. Waht’s new? Hokkli dahri, ha nhokk tieghek.
Are you implying that PN/Gonzi’s cabinet are in collusion with Labour high profile businesses?
duh, yes
Fejn hemm il-flus, ma hemmx kuluri.
Caqnu has long been investing in Labour. Do not forget that he built the roof of the Labour glass house “for free”.
Red Touch family day was held at Montekristo Estates.
Red Touch – owned by the goverment-in-waiting.
Money Talks; Bullshit Walks:
Sweetie (not that you are in anyway sweet, just to say so),
It is completely normal practice for prospective tenants to apply for a development permit before the land on which they want to build is theirs – even before they do a kunvenju.
:)
Ma kontx taf?
[Daphne – How utterly ridiculous. It isn’t normal at all, and if there are people who are doing this, and who are permitted to do this, then the MEPA should close that particular gap in their regulations. It should be obvious that an applicant for a development permit should have OWN – not even be a tenant of – the land which he or she or they plan to develop. Tenants do not have development rights. Owners do. With this absolutely ridiculous reasoning, anybody can file an application for a development permit on, say, my house, without my having a say in the matter of the MEPA questioning what rights of development they have here. U tkunx ridikola (you’re almost certainly a woman) bis-sweetie. That’s a term which only total chavs use for fellow adults, like ‘hon’ for anyone other than the person with whom they are in a relationship, or their children.]
What really concerns me is how some people find it so easy to overlook and dismiss blatant wrongdoings (or very fishy ones) but are then all shocked and concerned if a Nationalist in Brussels earns x amount per year or if a minister’s cousin is employed in his sector.
I’d love to know how the Mintoff sisters managed to pull this one off, though.
Joe Borg is 100% correct. Anyone can file an application on any piece of land irrelevant of the ownership. The only thing that is required is for the applicant to inform the owner and submit the registed letter as an annex to the application.
[Daphne – Informing the owner signifies, quite obviously, collusion/cooperation with the owner, and implies that there is the owner’s agreement. There is no point in having a permit to develop land that is not yours when the owner can and will block the development if there is no consent. That was the crux of the Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando Mistragate affair.]
No it isn’t. If the land in question was within scheme, there’s no need to apply to confirm values which could be calculated according to the policies which would apply.
If the land wasn’t within scheme, it would be sold exactly for what it is, arable land.
What you call normal is the sorry state of this country’s mentality.
What GonziPN did, inviting the wrath of those who insist this is normal, was to reform the process to eradicate the institutionalised abuse; build illegally now, sanction later.
Outline permits are over, bank guarantees real and penalties stricter. The fact that moral fraud has been achieved with the previous owner isn’t coincidence, it was normal practice.
@ Joe Borg – That is not at all correct.
Every application to MEPA, whether for a Full Development Permit, an Outline Development Permit (now discontinued by the way), GDO, etc has to be signed by an applicant.
The applicant also declares (a) that he is the sole owner or (b) that, if for example still on a konvenju, he has informed the owner by means of a registered letter that he intends to apply for a permit on his property. Just to put the whole argument in perspective.
This is a big scandal about which MaltaToday/Illum have so far remained silent? The reason….?
Ta’ min jgħid ukoll li dak iż-żmien missieru kien il-proprjetarju tal kumpanija Steel Structures Co. Ltd. li tinsab fi Triq il-Baċir il-Ġdid Kordin, ir-Raħal Ġdid. Missier Kurt Cini jaħbat ħu missier Simone Cini (il-Famuża tas-Super One). In-nannu ta’ Kurt kien magħruf għall-konvinzjonijiet Filo-kommunisti tant li kien anki semma lit-tfal tiegħu b’ismijiet Russi (missier Simone huwa Vladimir!). Kif wieħed jista’ jistenna, in-nannu ta’ Kurt kien ħabib kbir ta’ Mintoff.
Interesting.
Insejt ngħid li Alfred Ellul li huwa ndikat bħala it-tielet Direttur, huwa ukoll direttur mal-kumpanija Structures Co. Ltd.
It does figure, doesn’t it;
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120913/local/Mintoff-Foundation-creator-in-jail.436685
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120913/local/polidano-hit-by-mepa-enforcement-action.436769
Is all this an argument so that the election will be held later than November?
[Daphne – Logic: always a Labour supporter’s strong suit.]
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5636519/Hal-Farrug.jpg
Red circle: Fireworks factory
Yellow circle: Poligas
Green circle: Monte Kristo Estates
George Pullicino the Minister responsible for the ODZ rationalization should be kicked out of the Gov and the party IMO.
To those criticizing FAA, I have a simple question. In 2004 I was with FAA protesting against ALL the obscenities of the ODZ rationalization. Can anyone of you tell me what you did to stop it?
Don’t be silly, rationalisation was introduced to counteract the ribbon type sprawl leaving unsightly pockets surrounded on three sides by backyards and service shafts. The ones which didn’t qualify for the criteria weren’t accepted.
This one surely wouldn’t have.
Perhaps Franco Debono should insist on investigations re this land on his beloved Marsaxlokk, rather than stamping his feet on petty issues…
While the question of how agricultural land has become development land is a serious issue, one wonders why agricultural land is still so cheap and why the owners have to sell.
From what I can deduce, this is due to land being rented by farmers (mostly part-time) who cannot be removed – and the owners have no possibility to raise the rents to market standard, or to terminate the lease agreement that was started generations ago.
Some farmers pay a few euros a year for quite large areas.
I am sure that if the rent was allowed to go up to normal levels, owners of “green areas” would not sell, therefore not permitting developers from applying for Scheme Extensions and ruining these countryside areas.
We used to get a complimentary sack of potatoes once a year. Since a couple of years, the farmer has taken to barbecues, extended family and getting on in life you see.
because non of the two parties has the balls or the interest to do anything about it.
Looks like anything related to Mintoff has fraud or corruption written all over it… such is his legacy.
‘The man behind the Dom Mintoff Foundation, Josef Grech, is serving time in prison over fraud-related charges.’
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120913/local/Mintoff-Foundation-creator-in-jail.436685
Have you had a re-think, Wayne?
This scandal has all the ingredients to shock a whole political establishment. OK, the Mintoffs are gaining the most out of this, but who made it possible to change that piece of land from green area to a development site?
Ordinary Joe can’t possibly do that on his own. You must have friends.
As someone earlier claimed, PN still owe Mintoff a lot for what he did in 1998.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120913/local/Mintoff-Foundation-creator-in-jail.436685
You set the ball rolling with this story – MEPA is taking action against Polidano’s eyesore at Montekristo. Actually the whole area is a disgraceful scrap yard and a heap of filth.
One thing is for sure – this country needs more gutsy journalists to investigate these untouchables, rather than report on what the political parties are up to.
http://carmelcacopardo.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/daphne-caruana-galizia-u-l-iskandlu-ta-marsaxlokk/
I suggest you read this before you continue with your ‘crusade’. The writer in mention is one whose integrity is unmatched and, unlike you, has no agenda whatsoever.
[Daphne – Carmel Cacoparda is the leader of a political party, so how can you say that he has no agenda whatsoever? He is one of the most active contributors to Astrid Vella’s FAA Facebook group and is so agenda-free that he posted a link to his piece on their wall. Anyway, read my most recent post on the subject. He is right about the land being approved for development before 1995. He is wrong about it being a building development area when it was sold for Lm4,000 in 1986. It was arable land, then, hence the price.]
Daphne, welcome back.
You missed a very significant word here:
”hence the ‘declared’ price.”
He’s not the leader, at least be clear in you arguments.
This blog page on the Caqnu/Mintoff/MEPA shenanigans should remain prominently visible until an inquiry is started.
Perhaps something is missing here, but for you to be highlighting what appears to be some very questionable behaviour by the powers-at-large, is most out of character considering your PN hero-worship stance.
Well, this certainly has an aroma about it that makes the pungency of surströmming seem outright delicate in comparison. Will anything be done about this particular incident? You bet something will! An immediate sweep will be ordered, in the general direction of the carpet. Under, to be precise.
Seriously though, in a country as small as ours we should be the envy of Europe with low crime, low corruption and low taxes, combined with high standard of living, high quality infrastructure and high regard for individual freedoms. Some some ridiculous reason we have it all back-to-front.
Still waiting for the whistleblower act to become law. Although I suspect it will be so riddled with exceptions that it will be worthless.
Even if some evidence were to befound, what is the current statute of limitations on crimes commited by politicians? And considering the shocking tardiness of our courts and the general malaise of those in government to take action against their predecessors means that the expectation for any form of real justice in Malta is going to make you laugh or throw up.
Bravo on raising awareness of this.
Can the permit be revoked?
In their efforts to limit damage, it seems that Mintoffians and FAA groupies are somehow trying to involve the government – especially George Pullicino – in this scandal. The chronology of events, however, clearly shows the fallacy of these arguments.
The land rationalisation exercise was launched by MEPA in 2006 but this map-server screenshot clearly shows that in 1998 the site belonging to the Mintoff sisters had already been included within the Development Zone.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa475/A_V11/1692in1998ortophoto.jpg
In 1996 a development application was refused because the site was ODZ; by1998 it had become ‘Within Scheme’. Between 1996 and 1998 there was a Labour government – the implication is clear.
The ‘Vote George, Get Lorry’ drivel is not offensive only to George Pullicino himself but also to all the victims of Lorry Sant’s greed and violence.
Viva missier il-Maltin – huwa haxxen butu u lilna halina fil-faqar. U ic-Caqnu dejjem jibqa jiekol minghand kulhadd.
Our family, that is brothers and sisters, uncles and cousins have a similar plot of land in Mqabba.
It is almost a replica of the estate in question. The only difference is that we did not sell it to Mintoff’s daughters or to Charles Polidano.
I have lost heart living in a land of `Hbieb tal-hbieb` and if I were younger I would not hesitate to emigrate as that is the only solution.
The silence on this case from all press is amazing….OMERTA at its best….quite simply a pure MAFIA
The Mexico of the Mediterranean, always were, always will be!
As George Orwell rightly wrote about the pigs….everyone is equal, but some are more equal then others. Very correct choice of animal as well. Pigs!
Astrid Vella and il- bella kumpanija tal- Ramblers…….PLEASE NOTE.
If it isn’t him to congratulate ‘Drag’ champions who could it be ?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120914/local/muscat-congratulated-mr-whippy.436933