Charles Polidano owes Yana Mintoff lots of money after she sold him lots of land

Published: September 9, 2012 at 11:57am

Yana Mintoff: sold land to Charles Polidano for EUR3.6 million

I am in receipt of a contract which shows that Dom Mintoff’s daughters, Yana Bland and Anne McKenna, sold a parcel of land of 5,159sqm in Marsaxlokk to GINWI Co Ltd, a business owned by Charles and Paul Polidano and part of the Polidano Group.

The contract was signed in June 2009, for EUR3,610,529, before Alex Sceberras Trigona in his capacity as a notary. Polidano has undertaken to pay the final instalment of monies to the Mintoff sisters in November this year.

Meanwhile, GINWI Co Ltd is bound to pay interest on the outstanding sum directly into the Mintoff sisters’ account at Bank of Valletta in Tal-Ibragg, where Anne McKenna lives.

The sisters bought the land in May 1986 for Lm4,000, from a cash-strapped patrician family. It was then in a no-build zone. They put it on the market after having obtained an Outline Development Permit (PA 01692/04).




125 Comments Comment

  1. ciccio says:

    I see that Alex Sceberras Trigona is still into “secret Treaties,” academically speaking, of course.

  2. Stephen says:

    so they made a business deal…so what? you still have not accepted ALL my comments. Chicken.

    • Monte bello says:

      So they made a business deal? It’s a €3.6 million deal on a previoysly green area, you blinkered idiot.
      And you can call Daphne 3.6 million names – but chicken isn’t one if them!

  3. ciccio says:

    Miskina, I really admire her. She left the oil-rich state of Texas, and all her wealth there, to come here and save us from hunger which this cruel government has inflicted upon us.

    Actually, she can feed a lot of people with 3.6 million euros.

  4. maryanne says:

    Will Astrid Vella please shed some light on this application? Was FAA an objector?

  5. Jozef says:

    Atta girl, you’re back.

    And now for the Mintoffyani left spluttering on a Sunday afternoon.

  6. Ron Paul says:

    hemm hu is-socjalizmu!!

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      U hemm hi d-Demokrazija Kristjana li tpoggi lill-bniedem fic-centru tal-politika.

      Il-bniedem, that is, li huwa sinjur bizzejjed. Jekk ikun kunjomok Mintoff kollox tista’ taghmel f’dal-pajjiz.

  7. Josephine says:

    …. I smell they are going to sue you soon Daphne!! – you better have that contract ready to show (if you really own a copy!!)

    [Daphne – Sue me for what, sweetheart? Contracts for the sale of land are public deeds. You can get a copy too, if you wish.]

    • The chemist says:

      What you should be complaining about is the hypocrisy of these so called socialists Josephine. Daphne merely exposes their dealings and this is what irks you most. Your salvatur has taken you for a long long ride.

  8. *1981* says:

    The new millionaires …

    • Anthony Briffa says:

      You are mistaken *1981* Mintoff became a millionaire decades ago. It is not a matter of new millionaires but millionaires becoming billionaires.

      Imma basta taghhom ic-children’s allowance w l-bonus.

  9. Paddy says:

    How did they manage to get the permit when, maybe, the others couldn’t? Interesting. Maybe MEPA can clarify.

  10. Matt says:

    Smart business people I say. They are capitalists to the hilt. Their socialists fans may learn a thing or two from them.

  11. Beowulf says:

    So it’s not just Nationalist Ministers who buy land cheap, obtain Development Permits and sell for a profit. Wow, what a revelation!

  12. Kevin Zammit says:

    They used to talk about wheels within wheels and hbieb tal- hbieb etc etc etc. And she has the courage to speak out about sowxjal konxins and about how she decided to get into politics because the maltese families are suffering – w hallina w lura min fejn gejt ghidula!

  13. Joe Borg says:

    So bloody what?

    They made a good investment.

    Jealous?

    • La Redoute says:

      Funny how your lot always think that exploitation is OK as long as the exploited are tal-pb.

    • Last Post says:

      A good investment, a business deal, eh?

      How can’t you morons be honest, at least to yourselves?

      But then it’s always been ‘one weight – two measures’ with you, ever since you were led to believe that (e.g.)

      = It’s corruption and politically unethical (which it is) if it’s JP(OS) but a good investment if it’s a Mintoff;
      = it was OK for Drydocks workers to ‘rob the Queen’ but not so if it’s ‘your country’ (whatever that means!);
      = the great leader was not anti-democratic after all because for all the inflammatory speeches, he did not send or commission anyone to commit extreme violence.

      You call it pragmatism and political shrewdness but it all stinks of hypocrisy and opportunism.

  14. canon says:

    I am so surprised that Yana Mintoff didn’t donate the land to the poor.

  15. Melita Galea says:

    Hi,Daphne,,,,Money makes money,,,Good Business.

    • maryanne says:

      In this land of the starving poor (according to Labour), it is heartening to see a developer investing such a huge amount of money without any prospect of selling and making a profit.

      There is always something positive. Notary Sciberras Trigona certainly got his dues from this contract and he will be able to pay his water and electricity bills for many years to come. One problem solved. No need to wait for Joseph to find a remedy.

  16. ego trip says:

    I very much doubt whether the notary in question got his professional dues.

  17. N.L. says:

    U l-boloh hargu jibku u jghajtu, viva s-salvatur.

  18. Ganna says:

    I hope that the daughters paid tax on the interest on the profit that they did, because with some people they can get away with murder.

  19. Malcolm Seychell says:

    Is it now a development zone? If yes when was the permit issued?

  20. Interested Bystander says:

    How dare you!

    Yana is a good socialist.

    She was going to use the cash to build orphanages for sick and dying Maltese orphans.

    You have ruined her announcement.

    How dare you steal her thunder.

    She is so distraught and angry that ….. well ….. she might change her mind and keep the millions for herself.

    Thanks a million, Daphne.

  21. Interested Bystander says:

    The MEPA application is in the name Ms Anne Mc Henna.

    Is the mis-spelling deliberate to conceal the true identity?

  22. Joe Micallef says:

    So the moron is right that the wide majority are poor – I mean how many are owed that kind of money?

  23. Oscar Cassar says:

    … u din il-‘parcel of land of 5,159sqm at Marsaxlokk’ li tiswa EUR3,610,529, kif spiccat ghand Yana u Anne ? Forsi dan kien parti mill-process ta’ politika ‘Mintufjana’ biex Gvern (Socjalista) fis-snin glorjuzi tal-80s jghin lill-‘fqar’ ?

  24. Angus Black says:

    In 1986 the land was valued at Lm4000 (~e9720) – 2011 sold for more than 3,600,000 euro?

    One can look at this transaction from more than one angle.

    1. Either in 1986 there was so little doing development-wise and therefore land was a dime an acre or,

    2 Someone was taken for a ride in 1986. But I forget, this was Mintoffian economics at its best and which Edward Scicluna advises us to embrace. In 1988, e1,88 was paid for one square metre and in 2011 Polidano paid e7.00 a sq metre! Mur ara kieku Gonzi ma qatilniex bil-guh!

    Can Yana and Polidano come up with an explanation for us simpletons? Shades of Lorry Sant? Déjà vu all over again?

    Labour won’t work.

    • Mercury Rising says:

      Mur ara kieku ghamilha xi hadd jigi minn Gonzi missek ghidt. Ara veru min jemmen li dawn in-nies veru bla mohh.

  25. Village says:

    There you go, a prospective socialist candidate speculating in land and making a lot of money.

    Well, typically this could only be done in a liberalised market under a Nationalist government. Yana would better hurry if she has more immovable property to sell lest Malta returns to the politics of her father as Edward Scicluna seems to be predicting. http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120825/opinion/Recall-Mintoffianomics.434249

  26. edgar says:

    No wonder she is bloody smiling. She could not wait for her dad to pop off.

  27. maltawarrior says:

    Imbierka l-hniena t’Alla!

    Viva s-socjalizmu.

  28. Jason Tanti says:

    It has to be Labour:

    Petitizzjoni biex isir monument b tifkire tal-Perit Dom Mintoff Sfortunatametn l isem ma jistax jigi mbididelle war li jkun hem 200 likes, izda ha naraw x namlu biex nikkuntatjaw lil facebook , grazzi

  29. Spiru says:

    And your point being ……?

  30. Spiru says:

    Welcome back by the way.

  31. Antoine Vella says:

    At some point in time, the Development Zone boundary was diverted to include the land owned by Yana and Anne Mintoff, and ‘magically’ turn it from an ODZ agricultural field to a building plot.

    http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa475/A_V11/Mapserverscreenshot.jpg

    In this screenshot, the plot is coloured yellow and the red dotted line is the building boundary. This line clearly does a 90º turn to accomodate the land owned by the Mintoff sisters within the Development Zone.

    • Joe Micallef says:

      Reminds me of gerrymandering pre 1982.

    • Jozef says:

      I was looking for the boundary line, now that isn’t really rationalisation is it?

      Call the FAA, Ramblers, AD, Saviour, the army, the Red Cross, anyone. Why doesn’t anyone take this story up?

      If this isn’t a skandlu, what is?

    • Rover says:

      I wonder whose magic wand Yana was holding at the time the dotted line took a detour round her land?

    • ciccio says:

      Good observation, Antoine.

      I am ‘morally convinced’ that this sort of activity is the basis of Labour’s cunning plan, also known as “economic-growth roadmap made easy.”

  32. Tim Ripard says:

    No wonder socialists like these can afford the champagne.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      I had to make do with a glass of sickly sweet nameless bubbly. It tasted like a mixture of Caprisun peach juice and bicarbonate of soda. And it probably was.

      Honestly, fuck socialists. They’re all bloody liars and hypocrites.

  33. Mel says:

    I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. So many people have made money by buying property for next to nothing and making a fortune out of it. Biex qeghda tistghageb? Or perhaps you are a tad jealous?

    [Daphne – When I read comments like this, I am reminded that Malta has had democracy forced upon it, and that people in Malta still don’t understand what democracy is. Let’s see now: what exactly would be the problem with a Labour Party star candidate, daughter of a former prime minister, striking deals with Malta’s most controversial developer? Hmmmmm. Difficult one, that.]

    • Mel says:

      I really don’t see your point. The deal was done prior to her becoming an LP candidate.

      Business is business and as long as it was performed in a conscientious manner I don’t see why she shouldn’t deal with Polidano, Caqnu or Vassallo Brothers if she wanted too.

      Also just for the record I do not live in Malta but in a democratic country where citizens can, and do regularly buy and sell property whether they are running for state parliament or not.

      [Daphne – Yes, Mel, and how do you know that politicians running for state parliament in your country sell land to developers? BECAUSE YOU READ ABOUT IT IN THE PRESS. How, otherwise, could you possibly know? And why do you read about it in the press? BECAUSE THAT IS THE ROLE OF THE PRESS: TO HOLD POLITICIANS, IN THEIR DEALINGS WITH DEVELOPERS AND BUSINESSES, TO ACCOUNT AND KEEP THEM UNDER SCRUTINY. Incredible that these things should have to be explained in 2012. There is nothing illegal about the deal, but there are considerable ethical considerations and, when Yana Mintoff is on the government benches and in a position to use influence, other more serious considerations too. Let’s say we had an election this year, as was mooted. Yana becomes a government MP, or possibly more than that. Charles Polidano still owes her hundreds of thousands of euros (and possibly millions, because the word is that he hasn’t kept up with his payments). He has leverage on her, and vice versa. The risks here are obvious – and not to them, either. This ‘anything goes’ attitude of yours and of so many other Maltese is what made possible the atrocities of the 1970s, 1980s and beyond. Business is business, so carry on bribing and dealing in corruption and using leverage. Very Middle Eastern, very North African.]
      It feels like you are just trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel for information to harm Yana and her family. I don’t have any particular liking for her or anyone of her clan, but I find your nittifiezmu very unappealing.

      • WhoamI? says:

        Mel,

        This is a brilliant contribution from Daphne. If you fail to understand the exact implications of the Yana-Caqnu deal (once there is a Labour government with Yana on the benches that is), then you can be classified as the triple cream of milk products.

        This is absolutely brilliant, nothing like this has ever made it to the press. Well done, Daphne. Really, well done.

      • Qeghdin Sew says:

        “BECAUSE THAT IS THE ROLE OF THE PRESS: TO HOLD POLITICIANS, IN THEIR DEALINGS WITH DEVELOPERS AND BUSINESSES, TO ACCOUNT AND KEEP THEM UNDER SCRUTINY.”

        Qed narahom jiġru wara l-MPs u l-ministri biex jinvestigaw iċ-ċifri redikoli li jiddikjaraw…

      • Angus Black says:

        Mel, zero tolerance is just that and I am pretty sure that the democratic country you live in, no government land is ever given away to party supporters.

        And if indeed land is ‘granted’ to individuals and / or organizations there are usually conditions which prevent the land from being used for other than the initial intended purpose and restricted to the use of the original grantees or their successors.

        In Mintoff-Lorry Sant’s time lands were acquired by ‘friends of the LP and public lands leased to their ‘preferred clients’ such as in Sliema, with long leases for next to nothing.

        If there is any scraping the bottom of barrels, it is Joseph and his Labour Party who endorse, without reservation the Mintoffianomics and justifies what went on with corrupt under-the-table deals of which we have hardly scratched the surface.

        I hope that Polidano is ordered to pay whatever capital gains tax is due on the transaction directly to the department concerned even before Yana gets a chance to lay her dirty paws on the money.

        Whether the deal was done before Yana declared her candidacy is immaterial and Daphne gave you an ample explanation for the stench coming from such a transaction.

        A press worth its salt would have already gone to the Public Registry and examined the deeds of the subject property in order to find out (1) who owned it and when was it acquired by the Mintoffs (2) If the property was in ODZ, what date was the zoning changed and (3) who proposed the change and who applied for the change?

  34. Reporter says:

    Daphne,

    You are mentioning “patrician” families.

    My later father was a lawyer and my late mother was a teacher, so I was not brought up in a blue collar family.

    What does that make of us? We’re not plebeian … are we patrician?

    [Daphne – I don’t see what this has to do with the price of eggs.]

    • Mercury Rising says:

      Daphne, perhaps they could afford the eggs while others couldn’t?

    • Reporter says:

      Well, since you felt the need to define the cash-strapped family as “patrician” (with many implications there), I am trying to understand what the implications are.

      So, were these a family like the one I was brought up in – a lawyer and a teacher as parents – or some noble people?

      [Daphne – Some patricians are lawyers and teachers. Some lawyers and teachers are patrician. But not all patricians are lawyers and teachers and not all lawyers and teachers are patricians. God knows what your problem is, but anyway, I’ll let it go. It’s amazing, really, what hang-ups and chips people have about these descriptions. Just face it: some people come from patrician families. How and in what way is this skin off anyone’s nose?]

      That is why I ask you what you mean by “patrician”.

      Otherwise, the detail you decide to add is a frill, and has no value in the economy of the narration.

      [Daphne – Every detail adds value and context, Reporter. With a nick like that, you should know this. Please define “economy of the narration”. I have never heard that expression before.]

      • Reporter says:

        In Narratology, there is something known as “narrative economy”, or economy of the narration. To borrow somebody else’s words:

        Is everything in a narrative functional? Does everything, down to the slightest detail, have a meaning? Can narrative be divided up entirely into functional units? [Yes.] [I]n the realm of discourse, what is noted is by definition notable. Even were a detail to appear irretrievable insignficant, resistant to all functionality, it would nonetheless end up with precisely the meaning of absurdity or uselessness: everything has a meaning, or nothing has. To put it another way, one could say that art is without noise (as that term is employed in information theory): art is a system which is pure, no unit ever goes wasted . . . .

        http://www.units.muohio.edu/technologyandhumanities/narratology.htm

        [Daphne – I suggest that when writing anything other than an academic paper or treatise, you avoid this kind of thing and use proper English. Niall Ferguson, Simon Schama and David Starkey wouldn’t have been a fraction as successful if they had made a habit of saying things like ‘the economy of narration’.]

      • Reporter says:

        Also, I asked about the “patrician class” because I am interested from a socio-historical point of view.

        Who are the patricians in Malta?

        And why are they patricians?

        Can one join the patrician class?

        Are there patrician, plebian, professional, and mercantile classes?

        [Daphne – Oh Christ, how exhausting. It’s just a turn of phrase in idiomatic English, for crying out loud.]

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Does this qualify as narrative economy?

        “Once upon a time there was an island called Malta. One day, its people decided they wanted independence. And they lived miserably ever after.”

  35. Botom says:

    And their father was left alone living in a filthy house infested with rats. Where were all the gurus who queued to give testimonials about him when he passed away? They surely abandoned him during his last years.

  36. blui says:

    prosit daphne ibqa ikxef dawn liskandli . missier il maltin jahsara jahseb al butu u halla il poplu flinjuranza u fqir. emm huwa ic caqnu jikol minad kulhadd

  37. Mesmes says:

    Hope she pays capital gains tax at least!

  38. P.Zammit says:

    Blood suckers !

  39. elephant says:

    Great capitalists – aren’t they – I mean the Mintoffs.

  40. Aunt Hetty says:

    Kemm hemm ulied il-haddiema Malti u aristokratici tal- haddiema li huma xortijhom tajbin daqshekk?

  41. anthony says:

    Compared to the Mintoff sisters, JPO comes out like a girl guide with his real estate deals.

    His party was in power and he made a mess of Mistra.

    Their party was in opposition for a quarter of a century and they made millions.

    What they will be worth after ten years of PL government is mind boggling.

    • Mercury Rising says:

      It is often easier to make good deals when not in the public eye.

      Anyone in government anywhere, while having the same opportunities and contacts, is open to a wider scrutiny.

      On the other hand, very few bother to investigate dealings made by potential candidates of opposition parties; everyone here is more or less a relative of a potential candidate.

      The PN in Malta has given the likes of Yana ample time to fatten their pockets.

      As regards Caqnu, why would he let a surname get in the way of a good deal?

      [Daphne – The surname makes for the good deal, my dear. That’s the point. Yana will be on the government benches in a few months’ time. If we had had an early election, she would have been on the government benches while still being owed hundreds of thousands of euros by a developer, who could then exact leverage. “Give me this or I won’t be able to get the money to pay you.”]

  42. jaqq says:

    They should pass over some of the money to their beloved lower class.

  43. MANDANGO 70 says:

    Lm4,000 in 1986 for circa 5 tumoli on land in a no-build zone?

    Quite pricy!

    Ironically, thanks to consecutive (Nationalist) Governments-induced inflation of land and property, the Mintoff girls find themselves sitting on a goldmine.

    Reminds me too of the Delimara property; yet another Nationalist Government’s decision “biex iwahhlulu lil Mintoff”, and it all blows in its face. Propja propja, in our face, as we had to foot the bill for the vindicative decision.

    • Jozef says:

      Shut up Mandango, and have a look at the boundary line. It’s one thing being included within scheme, getting it right, quite another being the only plot outside the natural contour.

      Which leaves us to speculate whether the previous owner had been duped into thinking his property could never have been included, those plans go back to the notorious PAPB.

      What you have here is a couple of gits writing letters to the times lamenting the absence of trees, only to distort the spirit of regulations and good planning.

    • Homer says:

      If by “Nationalist government-induced inflation of land” you mean that the price of land now resembles European levels because our economy now has more in common with Europe than with Africa, then you’re absolutely right – it’s the Nationalists’ fault that land prices have increased.

      Having said that, only a moron would attribute this Mintoff deal’s price increase of nearly 40,000% to simple business skills or regular inflation.

      That’s why the ‘infamous” Eur500 weekly wage increase in ministers’ salaries makes sense. This is a relatively cheap measure that increase the chances of honest and competent people in control of the country – otherwise we’ll have political leeches like Mintoff (making millions by ruining our countryside) or political cowards like the nationalists (who are too afraid to sack incompetent and/or corrupt public officials who sanction such pillage).

  44. matthew tanti says:

    so? “patrician family”?

  45. Julian Mompalao de Piro says:

    Welcome back Daphne. You were sorely missed. Hope you’re loaded with juicy tidbits.

  46. Keith Zammit says:

    Thanks for the info Mrs.Caruana Galizia. Kompli iktibilna il-verita ghax ghamilt gimgha ma nafx fejn jien ghax ma kontx qeghda titfa informazzjoni inti.

    Imbaghad qghadt naqra lix-xemx il-gdida ta’ Malta (Dr.Debono) li minkejja li jghajjat hafna bid-demokrazija xbajt nibatlu comments u jaghzel li ma jtellahomx, ghax ta min ifahhru biss irid jisma.

    It’s more worth reading your articles than those of a person who pretends to be the pivot of the world with his high ego.

  47. HP Sauce says:

    great journalism !

  48. Harry Purdie says:

    So happy to be back in La La land and see that the ‘under world’ is still being unearthed by my very favourite, stunning, never-say-die, buddy.
    Canada and Switzerland are beautiful, but somewhat boring when compared to the shenanigans of the Rock.

  49. Francis Saliba says:

    No wonder Yana Mintoff is grinning from ear to ear.

  50. AE says:

    Welcome back Daphne. You have been missed.

    This is the sort of news that should be making the headlines.

    How did they get an Outline Development Permit in an ODZ? on what basis did Mepa approve that?

    I wonder if the family they bought from are aware of this. .

  51. L.Gatt says:

    Isn’t it interesting that all this happened under a Nationalist government ?

  52. bobby says:

    And how come the Polidanos never paid the Mintoff sisters?

  53. Statistics says:

    How much does the country owe Polidano?

  54. Last Post says:

    I suppose it’s in their inherited DNA, as Charles Mangion would put it.

    Talking of whom reminds me how, as Dom’s notary in the Dellimara Power Station wrangle with the government, Mangion admired Dom for his (bullying) ‘negotiating skills’. How’s that about someone adulated as “Kemm hu sincier lejn art twelidu”!

    You report that the sisters bought the land from a cash-strapped patrician family. And the cretins who adulate the Great Leader believe he eliminated privileges to create an egalitarian society and ignore the fact that he was the first Prime Minister who made a super-fortune from his political career. Think of Borg Olivier, Boffa, Nerik Mizzi, who all died financially worse off.

    Again, those who have an interest in propagating/perpetuating the myth that he was a socialist inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution compare him to General Napoleon, without ironically realising that the latter was essentially the traitor of those same ideals.

    They hate you because you refuse to stay on the fence pretending to listen to both sides forever — to be objective and neutral. They don’t want us to make up our minds on what is essential in political history and the long-term legacy in the development of our modern national psyche.

    BTW, many thanks for your present-day eye-openers such as this (and many others) that blast myths and sacred cows which would otherwise continue to hide the reality of what has and still goes on in our midst. You will definitely never be awarded a Gieh ir-Republika (sic!) for your journalistic acumen but you’ll surely qualify as a truly Liberal and Progressive (WITHOUT the Moderate tag!) pen-fighter, in a country that thrives on unmitigated tradition and blindfolded adulation of sacred cows.

  55. John Borg says:

    Qalbha mal-fqir din. Hekk isiru l-miljuni.

  56. NotSuperOne says:

    I think this is very appropriate for this thread;

    http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dr-Yana-Bland-Mintoff/395908743804100

    “Dr. Yana Bland Mintoff-

    Please share these photos to show everyone what poor conditions some people have to live in thanks to the Nationalist Government.”

    ”Thanks to the Nationalist Government” , she has inherited sacks-full of compensation money paid for by the tax payer, and inherited property that was most probably built originally, without the required permits.

  57. FAVETTU says:

    Ha ha ..
    so you’re back with a bang ! – we will love it.

  58. Mister says:

    Cha-ching!

  59. Yanika says:

    http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/MT

    You’re above sites like BOV, Go Mobile, eBay, and Maltastar!

    Well done!

  60. lola says:

    I am jealous of the sisters.They are really rich.Pity they are not young anymore and cannot spend them now.When one grows old the money becomes useless.

  61. Joe Borg says:

    So bloody what?

    They made a good investment.

    Jealous??

    [Daphne – Typical. A Labour candidate has an outstanding deal with a major developer and your reaction is ‘Jealous?’. Hardly. Mur ara li kien xi kandidat tal-Partit Nazzjonalista. You’re effing stupid if you can’t see the major democratic problems here. But then you didn’t see any problem with the whole Lorry Sant, Fusellu, Patrick Holland, Piju Camilleri scenario either, did you, because you voted for it.]

    • Joe Borg says:

      If you say so – or rather it if makes you happy.

      I never voted for the people you mentioned…but then again, if it makes you happy…

      This is a business transaction, a very good one I must say.

      People holding positions of power in the CURRENT government have had numerous deals with the SAME major developer.

      [Daphne – No, Mr Borg, not if ‘I’ say so. This is the way in countries which developed democracy and have had it for much longer than we have: deals between politicians and developers are always questionable and questioned, for the simple reason – and it is shocking that I should have to spell it out – that politicians can find themselves in positions where they are able to give developers what they want, and vice versa. This is not to say that there should be no deals, but that those deals should be open to public scrutiny and monitored by the press and the public. We know that almost every party thrown by Labour politicians over the last couple of years – and that includes their children’s weddings – has been held at the estate owned by the Polidano Group, Monte Kristo. Why? Shouldn’t you, as a member of the public in this democratic land, be asking that question?]

  62. zurrieq_blues says:

    So what????????????

  63. Wenzu says:

    Mank kellom id-dicenza jibghatuh sptar privat lil missierhom, is-salvatur ta Malta, ja qammilien.

    Ziebel ta’ nies, ma jarawx wicc Alla.

    • Angus Black says:

      Mhux tort ta Polidan? Mhux ghax ma wasalx bil-pagamenti?

      • ciccio says:

        Ma wasalx bil-pagamenti? Trid tghid li hallas xi 14-il elf euro fix-xahar imghax bir-rata ta’ 6% p.a. fuq il-bilanc skond il-kuntratt li ppublikat Daphne.

        Jigifieri Yana kienet iddahhal xi 7,000 euro imghax fix-xahar, u daqshekk iehor ohta.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        Aghmel il-kont tal-profit totali mid-deal, ciccio, ghax jien ma niflahx iktar. Mela if Yana buys a plot of land at Lm 4000 and sells it at 3.6 million Euros….

        Nirrispetta s-socjalisti? I********* Ahjar oligarch dikjarat.

      • ciccio says:

        Dawn mhux profitti Baxxter, dawn manna mis-sema. Tista’ tghid li l-art gabuha b’xejn, u allura id-dhul kollu huwa prattikament kollu qligh.
        Bhala orfni, imissna xi haga?

  64. Oscar says:

    So guys, think about it.

    A major developer smells a change of government and wants some insurance.

    He pays over the odds (and that’s perfectly legal) for a piece of property belonging to a potentially highly influential woman in the ‘incoming’ government. An Outline Development Permit conveniently materialises, making this land saleable at a price.

    Aha, where’s the catch? Simple Watson, she’s going to owe him one, big time, in return for 3.6 million euros.

    Translate that into building permits galore issued for ODZ land in the next five years. He’s really got her by the short and curlies.

  65. Toni ta' Zeza says:

    “Prosit sinjorina Defni, ergajt wahhaltulhom hi.” Naghmlu imhatra li ma jkunx hawn gurnalist wiehed, lanqas Salvu B, li jaghmel follow-up fuq storja bhal din, u l-implikazzjonijiet serji li ggib maghha.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Nixtieq nara lill-hero ta’ Dissett jissielet ma’ dan dossier. Jew xi Xarabank. Ara veru press inutli. Pajjiz ta’ amoebae ritardati hoxnin.

  66. JA says:

    Daphne is right. Such high-stakes development deals and contracts involving politicians should be under public scrutiny.

  67. Joseph (Not Muscat) says:

    When Joe Saliba was seen with a contractor on yacht all hell broke loose, but then again he wasn’t ‘it-tifla tas salvatur’.

  68. Joseph (Not Muscat) says:

    So no wonder all those parties at Monte Kristo, eh. A good contract from the future government would foot the bill.

  69. GABS says:

    This is the tip of an iceberg. God knows how many more similar stories there are. Keep it up, Daph.

  70. Grosvenor says:

    M’hemmx li jqassmu ftit minn dawk il-miljuni.

  71. canon says:

    Isn’t that incidentally the same way Lorry Sant did his business? The only difference is that Lorry Sant issued his own permits.

    • anthony says:

      Very much to the point canon.

      Post Lorry Sant, Labourites issued their building permits via MEPA.

      This is where the PN in government has failed, and miserably.

      It is one very important reason why the party will be trashed in the next election.

      PN voters have an IQ.

      They cannot be fooled all the time.

      Many PN supporters have suffered as a result of state-imposed red tape, bureaucracy and so-called regulation.

      PL supporters have bypassed all this sham and made millions in the process. The M’Xlokk deal is a case in point . There are many others.

      “Hbieb tal-hbieb” said Alfred Sant. He never said exactly who he was referring to.

  72. The chemist says:

    Ejja Franco, din titlob mistoqsija parlamentari! Jew ha tibqa mwahhal m’Austin u Richard.

    • Angus Black says:

      Tghid mhux deMarco w l-Prim imisshom? Mhux it-tnejn kellhom x’jaqsmu mal-MEPA?

      Tghid mhux hu wkoll jinsab fil-but ta wara ta Joseph u l-bella kumpannija?

  73. Mjones says:

    Of course, all the permits granted to him, the dodgy developments around Malta, his less then gentile approach and the fact that he milked the PN cow in the past 20 years didn’t happen. He has grown into the monster that he is during the PN mandate, protected as his break-up would create a domino effect throughout the construction industry.

    Then again, I am not naive enough to think that he doesn’t have PL in his pockets too. But there is a certain cheek in linking polidano to yana mintoff.. and ignoring the power he has had gained in Malta over the past 20years.

  74. Paddy says:

    Daphne, can I send your website’s address to Transparency International Deutschland. Thanks.

  75. silvio says:

    When a young lad,I was taught by my father
    When your competitor clinches a good deal,there is always smell of corruption, and sour grapes .
    When you clinch the deal, that’s business.

  76. Frans Cassar says:

    Mintoff = imbarazz

  77. Francois Hollande 's solution says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17189739

    ….possibly Joseph’s too

  78. Saviour says:

    I like to know how that land under her father ( Dom Mintoff ) how they obtain it so cheap. Maybe more light will come out soon.

  79. Wormfood says:

    Din parti mill-‘evil click’ ? E le, din it-tifla tal-Perit. Ipokriti, huma u min jivvotalhom.

  80. sasha says:

    Our family suffered like many others under Labour- they threatened to expropriate land unless you sold it for a pittance.

    Is this one of those cases?

    Or else, families were told that unless they sold their land to Lorry Sant and his gang for a pittance they would be removed from within the development areas with the revoking of permits.

    It’s great to see how socialism works, utterly amazing.

    I have had enough of hearing how they needed to feed the poor. Bollocks. It’s about feeding one’s own pocket and making more families poor.

    Who was the family they did this to? How many others in Malta faced such a situation?

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