John Dalli told the St Sebastian fireworks men that all their children would get jobs at the Qormi brewery

Yesterday morning, I had a WhatsApp message from a friend who is from Qormi, and who was still living in that town in the early 1990s. Bear in mind that Dalli was raised in Qormi and that it was his constituency. He was Minister for Economic Services at the time.

“Good morning, Daphne. I’m reading your article on the Qormi brewery. I remember way back in 1990 how furious the fireworks enthusiasts of the St Sebastian feast were at John Dalli for signing off that piece of land to Marsovin.

“They had used it for many years to let off their fireworks. I remember Dalli coming in person to the St Sebastian band club to meet this big crowd of angry people, trying to convince them that this was necessary and ultimately in their children’s interests as “most of them would be employed at the brewery”.

“Secondly, I am quite sure that John Sciberras, formerly of the Lands Department, was involved in dropping that clause, freeing the land from all conditions on use. He is very close to John Dalli and was still at the Lands Department until Jason Azzopardi was made Parliamentary Secretary for Lands. But he maintained his close links to the department, and obviously knew everyone there.”

When I telephoned John Sciberras for comment, he denied all involvement. He was no longer director-general of the Government Property Division at the time, he said. Sciberras, however, is a consultant to the Office of the Prime Minister, on government property, and is noted in the National Audit Office report on the matter as having been directly involved in the scandalous Café Premier deal with Prime Minister Muscat, orchestrated by Gmail exchange.