Mintoff compensation 'should set a precedent'

The Lm360,000 award ordered by the First Hall of the Civil Court to former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff for the de facto expropriation of his Delimara home should set a precedent, according to legal sources, in that other people affected in a similar manner could now claim compensation from the government.

The case can be appealed before the constitutional court.

According to the legal sources, it was the judgment dating back to August 1995 that "broke new ground" and not so much this week's Lm360,000 award, described as a "good deal" for the former Prime Minister.

In that 1995 judgement, the court had ruled that the Mintoffs' fundamental human right to enjoyment of their own property, L-Gharix, had been violated as a result of the construction of the Delimara power station just a road's width away.

That judgment "brought into Malta the latest position on the Continent, whereby virtual expropriation had to be compensated", the legal sources explained.

The case marked the first of its kind, while actual expropriation, which is common, was already being catered for by Maltese law - expropriation without compensation being a breach of human rights, the sources explained.

It has been an established principle, under Continental law, that if the government does not actually expropriate a property but makes use of adjacent land in such a way as to cause its virtual expropriation, rendering it worthless, then it is bound to compensate, the legal sources explained.

The 1995 judgment had established that Mr Mintoff had the right to compensation but had not set the amount he should receive and this was decided on Monday.

People in the property business also voiced their opinions, some maintaining that "there was no way the Delimara house was worth Lm360,000, even without a power station in front of it, due to the dilapidated state it was in".

They listed similar examples of virtual expropriation such as the case of five bungalows in High Ridge that enjoyed a view of the sea until a school, which was not meant to exceed the level of St Andrew's Road below, was built a storey higher than planned, "ruining" the panorama.

There were also cases of the construction of roads through private gardens while one farmhouse in Ghaxaq had had a runway built on its premises, a property negotiator recalled.

"The Mintoff case should set a precedent, which is a good thing," he said.

According to other property negotiators, victims of expropriation normally received "ridiculous" amounts of compensation - "peanuts".

"The property may have been worth Lm360,000 but Mr Mintoff also hung onto it. Even if he sells the property for nothing, he would have still made a good deal. I almost wish they would come and build a power station in front of my house," a real estate agent said.

Mr Mintoff had filed a constitutional application in 1994 in conjunction with his wife, who has since died, against the government, the Environment Minister and Enemalta Corporation.