Do you remember when Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba wanted Peter Agius jailed for five years?
Last October, Agius Saliba sent the police commissioner a legal letter formally requesting that Peter Agius be charged in terms of Article 24(2)(b) of the Identity Card and other Identity Documents Act, which states: “any person who makes any false statement, or gives any false information, or produces any false document for any of the purposes of this act, knowing the same to be false… shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years and not exceeding five years.”
That’s right, Agius Saliba wanted Peter Agius imprisoned – not because he’d defrauded the state of €400 million or made a multi-million profit off a dodgy windfarm deal but because allegedly Peter Agius falsely claimed his Mosta office was his official residence.
Well, it’s time for Agius Saliba to start writing to the police commissioner again. We need him to protect us from that most heinous of crimes – claiming residence in one property while actually living in another. Now the man doing precisely that is his party’s star minister – Clint Camilleri.
The Minister for Gozo and Planning claims he’s residing in his mother’s Nadur property.
But that house also doubles as the office of Camilleri’s friend, architect Godwin Agius. Camilleri paid Godwin Agius an eye-watering €722,000 for his work on the Nadur-Għajnsielem Road which the NAO discovered cost taxpayers €10.5 million more than planned.
Just to help Agius Saliba get the facts right, Camilleri is officially registered as residing at 19, Triq Cicciano, Nadur, according to the Electoral Register used for the very same 2024 MEP elections he and Peter Agius contested.
Everybody knows Camilleri doesn’t live there. Gozo’s king couldn’t possibly live in a modest office in Nadur.
He needs something far grander that befits his omnipotent position. Besides, that modest property belonging to his mum, operates as the office of his friend, Architect Godwin Agius and Associates. Camilleri can’t possibly sleep under his friend’s desks, where he himself previously worked as an architect.
The irony is that when those €721,511 were paid to Clint’s friend, Godwin Agius, that cheque probably went to Clint Camilleri’s official residence – 19, Triq Cicciano, Nadur.
No wonder Robert Abela is frantically changing the law to torpedo a magisterial inquiry into that suspiciously expensive road supervised by the most suspiciously expensive architect. What would the magistrate think when faced with a €721,511 cheque from Clint Camilleri’s ministry addressed to Camilleri’s official residence.
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
No wonder Camilleri is desperately concealing the other contracts and direct orders he awarded his friend Godwin Agius.
After another Freedom of Information victory for The Shift, the data commissioner ordered Camilleri to release the list of Godwin Agius’ contracts and direct orders – but Clint’s ministry refused, filing an appeal to keep the information secret.
Camilleri was given the opportunity to explain why he’s registered at his mother’s Nadur property. And why Godwin Agius’s office is also registered there. Camilleri didn’t reply.
Godwin Agius really hit the jackpot. Labour is rewarding him handsomely for his work as its electoral counting hall agent.
Besides, he’s Camilleri’s colleague at former minister Charles Buhagiar’s architectural office. Godwin Agius got several government jobs since 2013, including at Enemalta and Engineering Resources Ltd, despite maintaining his private practice, which received several government direct orders.
His latest contract for the Birżebbuġa Shell quay project will make him €150,000 richer. Godwin Agius was also awarded multiple Gozo road projects despite simultaneously being full-time senior project manager at Gozo Regional Development Authority.
The Minister for Gozo claims he’s residing in his mother’s Nadur property- Kevin Cassar
In addition, Camilleri, who ostensibly lives in Godwin Agius’ office, which belongs to his [Camilleri’s] mother, appointed Agius to the executive committee of the Planning Authority. That’s so convenient. They can discuss planning permits while Camilleri is having his morning shower. Or his brunch.
Simultaneously Godwin Agius also serves as chairman of Interconnect Malta, the government entity responsible for the €200 million interconnector project. Incredibly he also chairs the licensing committee of the Building and Construction Authority.
Faced with such blatant cronyism, if not worse, Camilleri’s spokesperson hilariously replied: “Minister Camilleri does not, and has never, interfered with any procurement processes.”
Do you remember how ONE journalists harassed Peter Agius? ONE’s reporters turned up at his Mosta office, falsely claiming the property was still in shell form. The MEP quickly exploded ONE’s myths with a video tour of his maisonette, fully equipped with kitchen, bathroom and even WiFi.
But Labour didn’t relent. Its then president, Ramona Attard, released a video accusing the PN and Peter Agius of hypocrisy and arrogance. She called Agius “fake”. The PN had taken legal action to prevent 99 voters from being registered at unfinished uninhabitable social housing in Siġġiewi just in time to vote in local council elections.
The court revoked the change in those voters’ addresses and ordered criminal prosecution. But Ramona Attard claimed that “the PN summoned people to court so they wouldn’t do what Peter Agius did”. Or maybe what her now fellow MP and minister Clint Camilleri did.
Labour wasn’t done. It unleashed the Occupational Health and Safety Authority onto Peter Agius. The authority fined Agius €500 for failing to advise the authorities that works were starting. Those works were completed in 2022. The fine was issued two years later. That’s how Labour weaponises state institutions to deliver political retribution against its adversaries.
Agius Saliba’s October stunt was motivated by petty political pique. His fake outrage at Peter Agius’s alleged false registration was just a charade. Agius Saliba’s insistence that his fellow MEP be prosecuted and jailed was driven by pure vindictiveness. It certainly wasn’t out of any genuine desire for justice. If it were, Agius Saliba, now Labour’s deputy leader, would already be knocking on the police commissioner’s door demanding Clint Camilleri’s imprisonment.
Agius Saliba would have already thrown the party’s disciplinary code at Camilleri and suspended him from the party. And Robert Abela would already be demanding Camilleri’s resignation. Or maybe not.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.