Arnold Cassola called out the deputy prime minister for not knowing about the Fortina scandal when Cassola requested an investigation by the National Audit Officer into the irregularities of the Fortina deal over four years ago.
On Tuesday, Ian Borg, who was then-minister responsible for lands, told Times of Malta that he did not know of a hidden valuation that valued the land in Sliema for double what was paid by the developers.
Now that the information was brought to light, he said he will “urgently convene” a parliamentary committee to re-evaluate the concession.
The NAO report published on Monday revealed that major business Fortina Group was allowed to use the land to develop apartments and commercial activities against a payment of €8.1 million, half the price it was valued at.
Yet, in a statement on Wednesday, Momentum’s chairperson criticsed Borg’s comments, highlighting how back in May 2021, Cassola had filed a ten-page detailed report to the Auditor General requesting an investigation into the granting of public land to the owners of the Fortina Hotel.
“How is it possible that a sitting minister, responsible for lands, knew nothing? If this is true, then it reveals a shocking level of incompetence and negligence in governance,” Cassola said.
In his 10-page letter, Cassola had asked Auditor General Charles Deguara to investigate if there has been full adherence to the contractual terms in contracts about the disposal of public land by the government and if there has been a transparent and fair process for the evaluation of public land.
The NAO was also asked “whether fair and good value for money” was obtained and whether factors such as public and social well-being were taken into consideration.
Cassola said shifting the blame onto the late Lino Farrugia Sacco and the former Lands Authority CEO is not enough.
“The real political masterminds who pushed for this deal, and who kept documents hidden, were Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri, both of whom had no business negotiating with the Zammit Tabonas,” he said.
“Yet, they did so because the Zammit Tabona family has long been a major financier of the Labour Party.”
The former prime minister told Times of Malta that if the NAO thought he had any involvement in the deal, he was sure they would have said so.
He also called out the NAO’s report to be written in “very bad taste” for implicating the former Lands Authority board of governors’ chief, Lino Farrugia Sacco, who had since passed away and could not defend himself.
Momentum demanded that Borg stop playing the innocent bystander and instead investigate the case properly, and not leave out Muscat and Schembri from the investigations.
“The Fortina deal was rotten from the very start. Momentum will not let the Maltese public forget who profited, who protected them, and who allowed the abuse to happen,” the statement read.