News | Sunday, 05 July 2009

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Ten years waiting – stolen paintings still in police custody

Paintings stolen from Villa Fiorentina in 1999 still awaiting release from custody

Matthew Vella
Fourteen paintings stolen back in 1999 from Villa Fiorentina, in Attard, are still under police custody despite having been recovered in a police swoop.
The theft of paintings and furniture had led to the indictment of former METCO chairman Norman Zammit and his business partner Generoso Sammut, who were found in the warehouse where the paintings were recovered, after a police stakeout.
They were later acquitted over “lack of evidence”, but since then, the paintings are still under police custody, a sore point for one of the heirs of the Grungo estate, Mario Grungo.
“We have been to see the paintings once a year to ensure they are still in good condition,” Grungo said of the paintings, which are estimated to be worth thousands of euros. Among them is a painting from the school of Mattia Preti.
“We have tried filing various writs in the law courts, but we have always drew a blank. The accused were acquitted on lack of evidence. It has always been said that the citizen is robbed first by the criminal, then by the system,” Grungo said.
The burglary of Villa Fiorentina was reported to police on 17 September 1999, where thieves had hauled off works of art and antique furniture.
Police had found the 14 of the 15 paintings stolen from the Attard villa in a Qormi factory after they were tipped off that former METCO chairman Norman Zammit and Siggiewi man Generoso Sammut were trying to sell them.
Investigations had led police to Law Quintano Ltd in Commerce Street, Qormi, from where police managed to seize the stolen paintings after two days of observation. Zammit was chairman of the food importer Law. Quintano.
Police had seen Sammut going inside the factory with a camera and a tripod. When he was stopped on leaving the factory, Sammut resisted to even let the police talk to him. As he resisted arrest, a film rolled out of his pocket, containing pictures of the paintings.
Meanwhile, then assistant commissioner John Rizzo, who was leading the operation, went inside the factory where he found Zammit. Fourteen paintings were found inside a locked room.
In court, police also presented a four-page statement made on 10 October 1999, in which Zammit admitted his involvement. Sammut however refused to reply to questions put to him by police.
“I cannot understand how the court could have found a lack of evidence when Norman Zammit had admitted to the theft! That’s where it stinks. In my opinion there were people in high places involved,” Grungo said.
“We have been going round in circles ever since.”
Grungo said his family has no relationship whatsoever with either Zammit or Sammut, and said the theft occurred soon after an auctioneer came to draw up an inventory of the Grungo inheritance.
Contacted by MaltaToday, the auctioneer said he spent “many sleepless nights” upon learning that the house had been burgled soon after he had drawn up his inventory.
“I was taken there by a member of the family, and I drew up my list in the presence of the heirs. There was clearly some friction between the family members. It was a shock to learn of the theft, just days after I was there on the premises, drawing up a list of what was inside.”
Both Norman Zammit and Generoso Sammut are directors and shareholders of Eliza Company, the firm that sold land in Bahrija to Victor Scerri, the president of the Nationalist Party. Scerri’s construction of a villa in land that is outside development zones has been the subject of an inquiry by the MEPA auditor, which has been completed and is awaiting publication by MEPA chairman Austin Walker.

mvella@mediatoday.com.mt

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