Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar and her associate, Carmel Farrugia have been called upon in a judicial letter to reimburse €44,500 given to them as fees for the planned sale of an Mdina property which fell through.

Cutajar and Farrugia had acted as brokers on the projected €3.1 million sale of the Mdina palazzo in favour of Yorgen Fenech, currently accused of complicity in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.  

The seller, Joseph Camilleri, the ultimate beneficial owner of Green Eyes Limited, had forked out the money in cash days after the promise of sale was signed on May 14, 2019, on condition that neither Cutajar nor Farrugia were to dispose of that money until the sale was finalised.

The original fee stood at €46,500 but was subsequently reduced and each of the brokers had refunded €2,000. 

But when the promise of sale expired in November 2019 and the final deed was called off, neither Cutajar nor Farrugia refunded the monies. 

Repeated efforts to get them to do so, by way of verbal requests, phone calls and even an unofficial legal letter in July, the sums were still not forthcoming.  

On Thursday, the seller took his claim one step further by filing a judicial letter, calling upon the brokers to effect the refund, plus interest, within two days. 

However, in view of proceedings against the MP before the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, the seller declared that he would not proceed with further legal action until those proceedings were concluded. 

This was to enable the Commissioner to fulfil his function “unhindered, in a serene and calm manner.” 

But, whatever, the outcome of his decision, the seller declared that he was reserving the right to seek further legal action once the Commissioner completed his task. 

Lawyer Edward Debono signed the judicial letter.  

Cutajar temporarily resigned her post as parliamentary secretary for equality and reforms last month pending the investigation by the Standards Commissioner, who is also looking into reports that the income was not declared in the decaration of assets presented in parliament by MPs.