>Construction magnate Charles Polidano has steamed ahead with work to redevelop four historic townhouses and their gardens in the heart of Balzan, despite his permit having been revoked.
>The project is now at an advanced stage.
>Polidano, known as *iċ-Ċaqnu*, continued to build a large swimming pool and deck in the grounds of the 300-year-old properties and only put an end to the works after being formally notified that the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal had revoked the permit.
>Between a tribunal decision to revoke the permit on March 14 and formal notification last Thursday, March 23, work on the pool and its deck had continued at a fast pace.
>Photographs seen by *Times of Malta* show at least five workmen and two concrete mixers on site on Thursday.
>In reply to questions, a spokesperson for the group said that work stopped as soon as it was formally notified of the decision.
>The Environment Planning and Review Tribunal withdrew the 2014 permit nearly a fortnight ago after upholding arguments that the illegalities carried out before the planning application was approved should have been addressed before the PA even considered the application.
>The PA granted a permit by five votes to four despite the developer facing a €100,000 court fine for irregularities.
>The application was to renovate three adjoining houses along Main Street, Balzan, and extend them into their gardens. Parking spaces for four cars in the garden were also proposed, with an entrance through a fourth building.
>The site is in the Balzan village core, close to the parish church. One of the properties, a 300-year-old palazzo and its gardens, dates back to the time of the Knights and is said to have been used by Grand Master De Rohan as his country residence.
>The building next door served as the servants’ quarters and next door to that was a building used as stables. There is also an underground cistern.
>In 2011, the PA issued an emergency conservation order with a list of remedial works that needed to be carried out on the buildings, and in 2012 the palazzo was included in the national list of scheduled buildings.
>Polidano appealed the court-imposed fine which was handed down in 2013 after he allegedly uprooted trees and destroyed a rubble wall in the gardens behind the properties. The appeals court eventually reduced the fine to €10,000.
>The illegalities, covered by two enforcement notices, should have automatically excluded the application from being considered, the tribunal ruled earlier this month.
>The first enforcement notice was issued following the demolition of part of the building, part of a wall and structures in the garden, all without a permit.
>A Polidano Group spokesperson said yesterday: “The Planning Authority only communicated the tribunal’s decision to our site manager on Thursday and works were immediately stopped once he was notified.
>“Any works carried out on site in the coming days will be restricted to the removal of scaffolding, clearing up the site and tilling the land – operations that do not breach the tribunal’s decision.
>“For safety reasons, we will also be closing off the passageway we were using through third party property to access the site,” the spokesperson added.
>Regarding the tribunal decision itself, she said company lawyers had studied it and “will be taking legal action to remedy the situation”.
Of course, the only party to speak out against this theft was [ADPD who filed a report with the National Audit Office to investigate the deal](https://newsbook.com.mt/en/adpd-welcomes-polidano-tax-deal-review/), as Ċaqnu fills up the pockets of both PN and PL when it suits him so they let him get away with this shit. The same goes for Zaren Vassallo, Joseph Portelli, Silvio Debono and Anglu Xuereb. Enemies of the people, all of them.
Ask yourself this, if you or I owed even just a couple thousand in taxes, would we get the same leniency that Polidano has? Fuck no! We would be arrested immediately and law enforcement would make a show out of us to show that they are “taking the problem of tax evasion very seriously”. We should give this **cunt** the time of day or any leniency. He should have been arrested, his company raided and his accountants arrested and questioned too, with criminal charges filed.
But this rich fatfuck was allowed to not pay taxes for DECADES and owes €40 MILLION and he still gets to walk the streets and run his companies like nothing happened. Fuck this man, fuck his family, fuck his company, and fuck the parties and governments that enabled him all this years. May his company crash and burn, and I hope he gets robbed of all of his possessions.
Developers in a nutshell, they don’t care about the law.
3 comments
>Construction magnate Charles Polidano has steamed ahead with work to redevelop four historic townhouses and their gardens in the heart of Balzan, despite his permit having been revoked.
>The project is now at an advanced stage.
>Polidano, known as *iċ-Ċaqnu*, continued to build a large swimming pool and deck in the grounds of the 300-year-old properties and only put an end to the works after being formally notified that the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal had revoked the permit.
>Between a tribunal decision to revoke the permit on March 14 and formal notification last Thursday, March 23, work on the pool and its deck had continued at a fast pace.
>Photographs seen by *Times of Malta* show at least five workmen and two concrete mixers on site on Thursday.
>In reply to questions, a spokesperson for the group said that work stopped as soon as it was formally notified of the decision.
>The Environment Planning and Review Tribunal withdrew the 2014 permit nearly a fortnight ago after upholding arguments that the illegalities carried out before the planning application was approved should have been addressed before the PA even considered the application.
>The PA granted a permit by five votes to four despite the developer facing a €100,000 court fine for irregularities.
>The application was to renovate three adjoining houses along Main Street, Balzan, and extend them into their gardens. Parking spaces for four cars in the garden were also proposed, with an entrance through a fourth building.
>The site is in the Balzan village core, close to the parish church. One of the properties, a 300-year-old palazzo and its gardens, dates back to the time of the Knights and is said to have been used by Grand Master De Rohan as his country residence.
>The building next door served as the servants’ quarters and next door to that was a building used as stables. There is also an underground cistern.
>In 2011, the PA issued an emergency conservation order with a list of remedial works that needed to be carried out on the buildings, and in 2012 the palazzo was included in the national list of scheduled buildings.
>Polidano appealed the court-imposed fine which was handed down in 2013 after he allegedly uprooted trees and destroyed a rubble wall in the gardens behind the properties. The appeals court eventually reduced the fine to €10,000.
>The illegalities, covered by two enforcement notices, should have automatically excluded the application from being considered, the tribunal ruled earlier this month.
>The first enforcement notice was issued following the demolition of part of the building, part of a wall and structures in the garden, all without a permit.
>A Polidano Group spokesperson said yesterday: “The Planning Authority only communicated the tribunal’s decision to our site manager on Thursday and works were immediately stopped once he was notified.
>“Any works carried out on site in the coming days will be restricted to the removal of scaffolding, clearing up the site and tilling the land – operations that do not breach the tribunal’s decision.
>“For safety reasons, we will also be closing off the passageway we were using through third party property to access the site,” the spokesperson added.
>Regarding the tribunal decision itself, she said company lawyers had studied it and “will be taking legal action to remedy the situation”.
As a friendly reminder, [iċ-Ċaqnu owed up to €40 MILLION in unpaid taxes he racked up over decades.](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/construction-tycoon-charles-polidano-faces-40m-tax-bill.833455) He later reached a deal with the government and qualified for a 30% reduction and entered into an agreement to pay off the tax over a period of time. [The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry said that deal (and others like it) set a very worrying precedent and “continued to weaken compliance and fostered a culture of corruption”.](https://www.google.com/search?q=adpd+statement+on+charles+polidano&oq=adpd+statement+on+charles+polidano&aqs=chrome..69i57.4944j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
Of course, the only party to speak out against this theft was [ADPD who filed a report with the National Audit Office to investigate the deal](https://newsbook.com.mt/en/adpd-welcomes-polidano-tax-deal-review/), as Ċaqnu fills up the pockets of both PN and PL when it suits him so they let him get away with this shit. The same goes for Zaren Vassallo, Joseph Portelli, Silvio Debono and Anglu Xuereb. Enemies of the people, all of them.
[Despite Infrastructure Malta saying they blacklisted Polidano](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/polidano-among-firms-in-contracts-ban-over-taxes.835127) from getting more road contracts until he settles his tax bill, [his company Polidano Group was **still** bidding on and winning public contracts.](https://theshiftnews.com/2020/12/07/caqnu-keeps-winning-despite-his-reported-blacklisting-over-tax-arrears/) That’s nice isn’t it? Our tax money going to someone that hasn’t paid the millions he owes in taxes since Yugoslavia existed.
And by the way, this same motherfucker and his son were [arrested](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/Caqnu-son-arrested-money-laundering-probe.965548), [TWICE](https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/charles-polidano-interrogated-money-laundering-probe.968317) and interrogated regarding allegations of money laundering and corruption.
Ask yourself this, if you or I owed even just a couple thousand in taxes, would we get the same leniency that Polidano has? Fuck no! We would be arrested immediately and law enforcement would make a show out of us to show that they are “taking the problem of tax evasion very seriously”. We should give this **cunt** the time of day or any leniency. He should have been arrested, his company raided and his accountants arrested and questioned too, with criminal charges filed.
But this rich fatfuck was allowed to not pay taxes for DECADES and owes €40 MILLION and he still gets to walk the streets and run his companies like nothing happened. Fuck this man, fuck his family, fuck his company, and fuck the parties and governments that enabled him all this years. May his company crash and burn, and I hope he gets robbed of all of his possessions.
Developers in a nutshell, they don’t care about the law.