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Matthew Vella
A will dating from 1880 belonging to the deceased Giovanni Schembri, who bequeathed the land known as l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu in Ta’ l-Ibragg to the Curia for administration, has revealed a further twist to the entire saga of the Triq Wied Mejxu residents, whose homes were illegally built over government-owned land.
According to Notary Victor J Bisazza, President of the College of Notaries, the Schembri inheritance states the land in question had to be “perpetually administered” by the Curia, an important condition he believes should have been taken into consideration before the land was registered in the name of the government.
“The Church had to administer the land and from the rents it collected, it would celebrate masses for the soul of Giovanni Schembri. The Curia was in fact the administrator, and when you administer land you cannot expect to own it,” Bisazza told MaltaToday, who believes the land should have never been registered in the name of the state since the area in question was not a property of the Church in the first place.
The Joint Office was set up in 1992 to transfer Church property to the government, but unlike the Land Registry, does not require documentation to back up its registrations.
“I fear that in Annex 8, there are properties which are not precisely the property of the Church,” Bisazza said, referring to the so-called list which includes 35,000 Church properties to be transferred to the State by the Joint Office, as according to the 1992 Church-State agreement. So far, only 8,500 properties have been registered.
Bisazza showed MaltaToday the 1880 will which states that Giovanni Schembri bequeathed the land to be perpetually administered by the Curia following the death of his sister.
“The property is in fact owned by the deceased’s heirs, but if these make no claim on the land, this leaves it open for outsiders to enter the land and occupy it […] In fact, if the land had not been registered in the name of the State, the homeowners who purchased the houses in Triq Wied Mejxu would have acquired the land through prescriptive acquisition within a period of ten years, as long as nobody makes a claim on the land given that they purchased the land in good faith and had a contract to prove it.”
MaltaToday first reported how developer Domenico Savio Spiteri sold plots off l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu to the company Terra Mediterranea, whose director is Raymond Aquilina, when it in fact never owned the land, despite claims to the contrary.
It was revealed how Spiteri sold the plots to Terra Mediterranea claiming the land originated from an inheritance he had purchased for Lm7,000 back in 1996. Subsequent investigations however revealed the inheritance, dating from 1826 in a will left by siblings Paolo and Tereza Xuereb, consisted of two fields located 775 metres away from l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu in Tal-Franciz.
The inheritance had to be executed by a member of the clergy. The inheritance was later sold in 1997 through a testamentary executor to Spiteri, with the consent of the Court.
Terra Mediterranea has already been involved in cases of trespassing in land in Swieqi and Ta’ l-Ibragg in which Spiteri, as director of Spiteri Holdings, has been implicated. In fact, Terra Mediterranea had constructed the houses in Triq Wied Mejxu, in the land known as l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu, before it had actually purchased the land from Spiteri. It officially purchased the land ten days before selling the houses.
However, much to the shock of the young homeowners who moved in the Triq Wied Mejxu houses, it was only later that they discovered the land they were standing on had been transferred from the Church and registered in the name of the government.
The nasty surprise prompted legal action from homeowners Elton and Cheryll Penza against Terra Mediterranea, who claimed they were sold property on land which was government-owned.
The entire saga revealed in fact how notaries had either neglected their duties, or were misled by the obscure manoeuvres involving the land at Triq Wied Mejxu, particularly since the deed of purchase for the Xuereb siblings’ inheritance between Domenico Savio Spiteri and testamentary executor Fr Renato Valente, did not include the contents of the inheritance.
MaltaToday later revealed that a first draft of the contract, presented to the Court, had included both the description of the land as well as the all important clause that there was no peaceful possession on the land – meaning there was the possibility that other claims of ownership on the land could exist. Both clauses were in fact missing from the revised deed of purchase.
The Wied Mejxu saga has now opened new windows on the nature of the law which surrounds the transfer of Church property to the State, namely the Ecclesiastical Entities (Properties) Act. Contrary to the practice employed by the Land Registry, which surveys all land and registers it with full documentation of ownership, the Joint Office is legally not obliged to provide absolute documentation to prove whether a property is the Church’s or not.
In an interview next week with MaltaToday, Notary Victor J Bisazza will talk about how the law governing the transfer of Church property to the State could have played an important part in the complications which arose in the entire Wied Mejxu land scandal.
“The fact is that property listed in the Church’s Annex 8, which collects all the properties that rightfully or wrongfully are claimed by the Church as theirs and are being transferred to the State, happens without anybody knowing when a particular property is transferred.
“This preoccupies us as notaries, since we are fighting against something ‘occult’ as it were, affecting our profession and the way we work […] We are interested in following this case because anybody who carries out their obligations in the best of ways could be faced with a similar situation,” Bisazza told MaltaToday.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
From a Lm7,000 bargain to a land scam worth hundreds of thousands
May 1996 –
Fr Renato Valente appointed as testamentary executor by a Court, to replace former executor Fr Rafel Gauci, entrusted with executing an 1826 inheritance passed on from siblings Paolo and Tereza Xuereb. The will’s 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 to Gozitan Domenico Savio Spiteri, director of Spiteri Holdings Ltd. 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 at land known as Tal-Franciz, at the end of Tal-Franciz Road. 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. One contract is presented to the Court, including the inventory of the inheritance, and the clause that states there is no peaceful possession of the land, which means other claims of ownership to the land can exist.
A second copy however, a revised deed of purchase lodged at the registry, does not include neither the inventory of the inheritance nor the mention that there is no peaceful possession of the land.
July 2002 –
Spiteri Holdings starts selling land located in Swieqi, known as L-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu, at Triq Wied Mejxu. He sells several plots of land to different buyers and companies.
As a contract of sale for land at Triq Wied Mejxu proves, Spiteri Holdings claims he acquired the land he is selling off l-Ghalqa ta’ Giakondu 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.”
The very deed is the revised version, which does not mention what land is included in the inheritance nor the fact that there is no peaceful possession of the land. Notaries representing buyers apparently do not investigate further in their searches whether the contents of the inheritance were as claimed by Spiteri.
He sells two plots of that land at Triq Wied Mejxu to Terra Mediterranea Ltd, whose director is Raymond Aquilina. Aquilina is already constructing homes on the land before actually acquiring it. He officially buys the land from Spiteri just ten days before selling a house to private individuals.
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, from rent payments seen by MaltaToday, the farmers paid a perpetual lease to the Maltese Archdiocese since 1965.
September 2003 –
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 that had been appointed by the Wied Mejxu residents had not conducted appropriate searches to confirm the legitimacy of the sale of land between Terra Mediterranea and private individuals.
May 2004 –
Legal action is commenced against Terra Mediterranea by Wied Mejxu residents, claiming the company sold them land it did not own, 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, 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 instead it is indicated by the Court as having been responsible for directing Terra Mediterranea to start works on the land.
Spiteri, in his witness, claims he acquired the land through an inheritance, purchased from Fr Rafel Gauci. The Court declares 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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