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May 1996 –
Fr Renato Valente is appointed as testamentary executor by the Court, to replace former executor Fr Rafel Gauci, who was entrusted with executing the 1826 inheritance passed on from siblings Paolo and Tereza Xuereb. According to the will, the testamentary executors had to be members of the clergy.
July 1996 –
Valente presents a writ to the Second Hall of the Civil Court to sell the inheritance, identifying Gozitan Domenico Savio Spiteri, director of Spiteri Holdings Ltd, as an interested buyer. Valente is not aware of the contents of the inheritance so a Court expert is appointed to specify the contents of the inheritance and value the assets and liabilities.
August 1996 –
Court expert Architect Rene Buttigieg identifies two plots of land, each measuring approximately 31 square metres in an area known as Tal-Franciz, at the end of Tal-Franciz Road, Swieqi. The plots are two fields, one of them littered with prickly pear trees. Buttigieg values the land at Lm7,000.
Spiteri Holdings and Valente sign a contract to seal the deal. However, two contracts of the sale exist: one of them, which was presented to the Court, contains the contents of the inheritance; the other one, which appears as the deed of purchase lodged at the public registry, does not contain the contents of the inheritance. Legal sources believe that, in the future, this would aid Spiteri Holdings to sell off other land under the false premise that it originated from the Xuereb inheritance. Most importantly, the first contract acknowledges that Spiteri Holdings recognises there is no peaceful possession of the land, and that other claims of ownership may exist. The deed of purchase, does not contain this important note.
1996-2002 –
Spiteri Holdings starts selling land located in Swieqi, known as L-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu, at Triq Wied Mejxu, located 775 metres away from Tal-Fanciz. He sells several plots of land to different buyers and companies.
July 2002 –
As a contract of sale for land at Triq Wied Mejxu proves, Spiteri Holdings claims he acquired the land he is selling from the ‘Eredita’ Gjacenti tar-Reverendu Paolo u Tereza ahwa Xuereb,’ by virtue of a deed published by Notary Anthony Abela on the 5 August 1996, as authorised by the Second Hall of the Civil Court decree numbered 941/1996.
In fact, the deed deposited at the public registry, seen by MaltaToday, does not contain the contents of the inheritance, since the deed of purchase is a revision of the first contract that was presented to the Court.
He sells two plots of that land at Triq Wied Mejxu to Terra Mediterranea Ltd, whose director is Raymond Aquilina. Other tracts of the land known as l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu are sold to other buyers. Less than ten days after purchasing the land from Spiteri, Terra Mediterranea sells apartments he had already built on the plots to private individuals. It is evident that Terra Mediterranea had built the flats on the plots before it officially and legally ‘purchased’ the land from Spiteri Holdings.
May 2003 –
Relatives of farmers who once worked the land at l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu start a legal battle to get Terra Mediterranea off what they claim is their land, unsuccessfully. In fact, as MaltaToday discovers, the farmers used to pay a perpetual lease to the Maltese Archdiocese, which owned the land at l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu. Documents seen by MaltaToday confirm that the land was once the property of the Maltese Archdiocese.
September 2003 –
Correspondence from the Joint Office confirms the land at l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu was owned by the Church and had been transferred to the State in 2003, as part of the 1992 Church-State agreement. The area is now officially government-owned. The Lands Department commences legal action against Raymond Aquilina, director of Terra Mediterranea.
The Lands Department informs homeowners in Triq Wied Mejxu they are standing on land owned by the government. It is revealed that notaries which had been appointed by the Wied Mejxu residents had not conducted appropriate searches to confirm the legitimacy of the sale of land between Terra Mediterrenea and private individuals.
May 2004 –
Legal action is commenced against Terra Mediterranea by Wied Mejxu residents, claiming the company sold them land it never owned, under the false premise that it also had peaceful possession of the land in question.
June 2004 –
In its reports, MaltaToday reveals how Terra Mediterranea and Spiteri Holdings had been previously involved in, and found guilty of, trespassing land at Tal-Franciz, owned by Marcus Marshall, Neville Xuereb and NMR Ltd. Terra Mediterranea is found guilty of having entered the land and removing the foundations of a construction in progress. Spiteri Holdings is not found guilty, but Court proceedings reveal the company had directed the Terra Mediterranea to start works on the land. Spiteri, in his evidence, claims he acquired the land through an inheritance. It is clearly proven in Court that the land had been owned by the noble Testeferrata and Scicluna families for hundreds of years.
Following reports on the case, Raymond Aquilina and Domenico Savio Spiteri sue MaltaToday for libel, actions described by this newspaper as a vexatious attempt to prevent reports on the alleged scandal to emerge.
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