The police are reviewing a court judgment which found a “clear case of distinct treatment” in the way construction magnate Charles Polidano was given a permit in 2007 to build a Lidl supermarket on protected land.

A police spokesperson said a review was under way, in response to questions by Times of Malta about whether a corruption probe would take place.

The court judgment, handed down last week, ordered the Planning Authority to pay €331,000 in damages after repeatedly refusing a permit for a garden centre but then allowing a supermarket to be built once the land was sold to Polidano.

The court sentence laid bare how Polidano, iċ-Ċaqnu, bought the land, got a supermarket permit and sold it to Lidl supermarket for €4.63 million,  three times the price he had originally paid.

Three applications by the previous owner to develop a garden centre in the two-tumoli area outside the development zone on Qormi Road, Luqa were all turned down in quick succession in the 1990s.

Although plans were modified to allow most of the land to be taken up by greenhouses, the Planning Authority said that any construction could not be higher than the airport perimeter fence.

But when the dejected owners finally sold off the land, without permits, at a far lower price, the situation appeared to change and to their “great surprise” a permit for a supermarket was issued to third parties.

When delivering judgment, the First Hall, Civil Court, presided over by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, said it was “contradictory” and “illogical” that a garden centre was deemed as too commercial for the particular area  whereas a supermarket was acceptable.