A court will be giving a decree whether to suspend proceedings in the case instituted by the government to revoke the controversial €3.4 million expropriation deal involving Marco Gaffarena pending a decision on potential conflict of interest on the government’s side.

The deal, revealed by The Sunday Times of Malta, saw Mr Gaffarena acquire €3.4 million in land and cash from the government for the expropriation of half a building in Valletta valued at some €900,000.

The request for the suspension of proceedings was made this morning by Mr Gaffarena’s lawyer Keith Bonnici in an application filed before Madam Justice Anna Felice, who is presiding the case which started this morning. The court will be giving its decision on April 4.

Mr Gaffarena last month filed a complaint with the judicial watchdog (Commission for the Administration of Justice), saying that Attorney General Peter Grech, lawyer Victoria Buttigieg and lawyer Christian Falzon Scerri were breaching the Code of Ethics, citing “conflicts of interest”.

During this morning’s sitting, Dr Bonnici argued that if the commission would uphold his complaint, proceedings might be declared null. Consequently, he asked for the case to be suspended, until the judicial watchdog would give its decision.

On his part, the Attorney General insisted that the complainant had not explained at all how such issue would affect the case, or how it would breach the right for a fair trial. 

“He is trying to stall proceedings but has no legal grounds,” Dr Grech told the court. Granting such request would be tantamount to annulling a law as it would be labelled unconstitutional, Dr Grech pointed out.

“God forbid if we conclude that the Attorney Geneal has a conflict of interest when safeguarding public interest,” he added.

In a separate application, Mr Gaffarena claimed that the Prime Minister could not legally attack the contract of exchange which he himself authorised, as the minister ultimately responsible for the lands portfolio.

“How can the Prime Minister sue himself as Land Minister,” Dr Bonnici told the court this morning.

In the next sitting, the court will be also giving a decree to a request filed by the owners of several undivided shares of the same property who asked to be included in the case. The application was filed by lawyers Peter Caruana Galizia and Tanya Sciberras Camilleri who said the deal should be revoked as their clients had not been included.

Although the Lands Commissioner, who is also being sued by the government, accepted the request for their inclusion, Mr Gaffarena objected.

Dr Caruana Galizia told the court that the two declarations published last year in the Government Gazette, whereby the government expropriated two quarters of the property in separate deals, should be declared void as their clients had been completely excluded.

“Our aim is to be included in the case and lend our support to the Prime Minister who is seeking to revoke the deal,” Dr Caruana Galizia said.

Lawyers Victoria Buttigieg and Chris Falzon Scerri are also representing the Office of the Attorney General. Lawyer Josianne Azzopardi appeared on behalf of the Commissioner for Lands. Lawyer Astrid May Grima represented Identity Malta in the proceedings. The case continues next month.