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| TOP NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 Mangion stands by Pender Place sale Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion has resolutely denied allegations that the sale of government land to Penderville Ltd in 2005 for development into Pender Gardens – for which transaction he was notary public – included the private garden of a nearby apartment block, which was never government property to begin with.
Irate residents of Haven Lodge in St Julian’s contacted MaltaToday two weeks ago to point out that a small fringe garden on their property, and which is shared equally between the block’s 27 residents, had mysteriously been “annexed” to the development of the Pender Gardens complex next door. The issue arose when residents were informed by the developers, Penderville Ltd, that “their” garden would be bulldozed for the construction of an underground parking facility. Once complete, the garden would be rebuilt as it was on top of the car park. The residents declined, only to be told that the car park will go ahead as planned because the land in question does not belong to them. Penderville Ltd insist that the garden is their property having been legally purchased as part of the Lm10 million transaction involving a 250-square metre plot in St Julian’s, formerly owned by Maltacom plc (Telemalta). But residents have since produced a contract which suggests that the garden was one of a number of plots sold by Mgr Ignatio Sciberras Psaila, provost of the St Helena basilica in B’Kara, to John Mary and Francis Portelli in 1966. This contract seems to have mysteriously evaded detection by notarial searches when the contract of sale was signed in December 2005. Contacted by MaltaToday to shed light on this murky issue, Charles Mangion dismissed the Haven Lodge residents’ claims out of hand. “I am bound by professional confidentiality not to reveal any details about my clients’ business,” he said. “But I can assure you that there are no problems regarding the title to that piece of land. I assure you that Penderville Ltd has 100 per cent title to it, and this was also confirmed by the fact that the local banks gave extensive credit facilities to enable the purchase.” Mangion added that there might be other reasons for raising the issue at this stage. “I don’t know what other issues there may be between residents and the developers,” he said. “But if the residents feel they can contest the owners’ title, then there are appropriate venues to do this… not the newspapers.” Mangion came under fire earlier after he had criticised the Pender Place sale as MLP deputy leader while acting as notary public for the transaction at the same time. www.maltatoday.com.mt/midweek/2007/08/01/t1.html
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