In the run-up to the European elections, Robert Abela was busy scaremongering. Desperate to mobilise Labour voters, he warned “the upcoming elections are a choice between those who seek Malta’s interests and those who want to put Malta back in the Middle Ages”.
The Middle Ages were a time of anarchy and lawlessness. Abela won those European elections by a whisker, and he’s kept his promise. He told his supporters he’d take Malta back to the Middle Ages – that’s exactly what he’s done.
“The rule of law no longer exists in Malta,” Astrid Vella from Flimkien għal-Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) commented. She’s absolutely right.
Malta’s highest court, led by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, ruled in March that Joseph Portelli’s penthouses in Sannat are illegal. They cannot be sold, cannot be rented and cannot even be used.
The court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.
It took 36 months for the case to reach the Appeals Court and for that final ruling to be issued. Practically the whole country was ecstatic when the appeals lodged by Moviment Graffitti and Din l-Art Ħelwa against those obscene permits won. At last, the nation could savour a small victory over the ruthless abuse by Abela’s friends.
The Planning Authority (PA) case officer recommended refusal of that permit. But the three board members, Martin Camilleri, Frank Ivan Caruana Catania and Anthony Borg, approved it despite an onslaught of objections. Portelli and his partner, Mark Agius, ta’ Dirjanu, wasted no time. They quickly built that massive block of flats, including swimming pools, and sold those apartments, despite the ongoing appeals.
The priciest apartments were the penthouses. That’s where Portelli and Agius were going to make most money. The NGOs stood like David against Goliath, battling on our behalf against all odds and confronting Labour’s flagrant abuse of power.
When, in March 2024, the court ruled those penthouses illegal there were huge celebrations. The court declared those permits not only illegal but “absurd”. The court ruled that the PA and the Environmental and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) headed by architect David Mifsud Parker conveniently “misinterpreted” the rules to provide Portelli and co with the coveted permit – and a licence to print money.
The court’s ruling on those illegal structures provided some solace. At last, the nation could sigh in relief that there is justice, the rule of law is still strong. Alas, that optimism was short-lived.
Just a few weeks after the Appeal Court’s ruling, a man named Tarlochan Singh lodged application PA03869/24 to sanction Portelli’s illegal penthouses in Sannat. Singh declared he didn’t own the apartments. He didn’t even own a single room in those penthouses. He claimed he was authorised to “carry out such proposed development through an agreement with the owner”.
Portelli didn’t lodge that application himself.
Neither did Agius, ta’ Dirjanu, or Daniel Refalo.
Instead, they got an Indian national, to lodge the application. They hoped nobody would notice. Nobody knew who Tarlochan Singh was. His name wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
Incredibly, the case officer recommended approval to sanction those very penthouses declared illegal by Malta’s highest court. Within just 11 days, a full development permission was issued by the PA to sanction Portelli’s illegalities.
The Planning Authority was sticking its middle finger at Malta’s highest court and the entire country- Kevin Cassar
On August 7, the PA’s decision was published. The whole nation was stunned. Here was the PA sticking its middle finger at Malta’s highest court and the entire country. This was an open declaration by the PA that it is above the law, it can defy court rulings, it can do whatever it likes – and not even the highest court can stop it.
Even considering Tarlochan Singh’s application to sanction was brazen enough, but actually approving it?
Vella was right – “the rule of law no longer exists in Malta – the PA has set itself above the courts”. The only law that applies in this country is Labour’s law – if you’re on our side, you do whatever you want.
Don’t bother with court rulings, forget the law – we’re in power. We’re the law. The court can issue its rulings but we won’t enforce them. In fact, we’ll do the exact opposite.
But Portelli, Agius and Refalo have a point.
Ian Borg’s swimming pool in rural Santa Katarina, on the outskirts of Rabat, was also declared illegal by the courts.
That pool, built on a field that Borg coerced out of a mentally ill elderly gentleman, should have been destroyed. But, over a year after the court declared Borg’s pool illegal, the same PA that issued the illegal permits still hasn’t issued an enforcement order against Borg.
Ironically, the owner of the other half of the field on which Borg’s pool was built was slapped with an enforcement order for building a small illegal shed (enforcement notice EC/00010/15).
But, then, he’s not a Labour minister. And he didn’t dine Abela and raise funds for Labour as Portelli did.
When the PA was challenged about its inaction, Oliver Magro, a former adviser to Abela and PA’s CEO, told The Shift he was studying the court judgment. Over a year later he’s still studying it – and has still taken no action against Borg.
If Borg can, why can’t Portelli?
Abela kept his word. He’s taken Malta to the Middle Ages where his powerful friends defy the highest court and we can only watch, helpless.
Come to think of it, it’s worse than the Middle Ages.
When the despotic King John tried to take land from his people, they forced him to sign the Magna Carta, stating he was not above the law.
That great charter laid the foundations of democracy. That document was far more progressive than Abela’s Labour.
The king and his government were not above the law in 1215. In Labour’s Malta in 2024, Abela and his government are.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.
Correction September 4, 2024: A previous version cited board members of a different PA commission.