Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has highlighted the growing perception that the rich and powerful are treated differently to everyone else.

"The perception is growing that regulations get enforced most when 'normal' people are involved" MEP Dr Sant said a cryptic message on Twitter.

"When the rich, the well connected and the powerful are concerned, enforcement goes slack. The government needs to show that this perception is incorrect."

The Tweet, accompanying a photo of a couple of Euro notes and some loose change, comes just a few days following a series of Facebook posts about the controversial Qala planning decision.

At the end of October, the Planning Authority approved plans to turn a tiny dilapidated Qala room in an Outside Development Zone land into a sprawling villa. 

The decision was greeted with outrage, including by a number of Labour Party members. 

Former PL general secretary Jason Micallef had taken to Facebook to express his dismay. 

“What a disgrace. Shameless! This government and the absolute majority that elected it deserves better than this. These atrocities must stop before it becomes too late,” he wrote.

Dr Sant also called on the PA to explain its decision.  

“If this explanation is not convincing, then doubts – including my own – will arise over whether the authority is truly serving its functions properly,” he wrote.  

A couple of days after the PA's decision, Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli said he was renouncing the permit.

Since then, Planning Commission chair Elizabeth Ellul has faced calls of resignation over her 'failure to protect the environment'.

More recently, Dr Sant has meanwhile expressed his concern about the issuing of development permits in general.  

He called on the authorities to be "transparent" about the way decisions were being taken, and in case of any misdemeanour, the government should replace those taking such decisions.