MEPA initiates process to revoke Scerri’s last permit
Karl Stagno-Navarra
The Malta Environment & Planning Authority has initiated the process to revoke the permit granted in 2007 to former PN President Victor Scerri, following the recommendation by MEPA Auditor Joe Falzon that declared the said permit as “illegal”.
The news was confirmed by a MEPA spokesman who told MaltaToday that Victor Sceri has been informed of the decision. and has 30 working days in which to reply and to submit his reactions to the decision.
Last week, the MEPA auditor lambasted the former Development Control Commission (DCC) board for issuing the last of a series of permits to Victor Scerri, insisting that the board had acted illegally.
The permit provided for the extension of the original footprint from 134 square metres to 198 square metres, to accommodate two more bedrooms.
Interviewed by MaltaToday last Sunday, the former PN President explained that the original footprint of the dilapidated farmhouse in Bahrija only provided for two bedrooms when the couple have three children.
The permit allowed the construction of a further bedroom upstairs and another downstairs.
Asked for his reaction to Falzon’s insistence that the permit was issued illegally, Scerri replied: “That is a matter MEPA has to look into, and it’s definitely not something I should shoulder. They granted the permit, now they face the music. I did nothing wrong,” he said.
Speaking on radio last Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that Victor Scerri’s decision to resign as party president was “ethically and morally” correct.
æI had said before that I was fully confident he would make the right decision and I feel he chose what was morally and ethically correct,” Gonzi said.
The Prime Minister last week accepted the damning audit report that heavily criticised the process with which Victor Scerri was given a permit to demolish and rebuild a farmhouse in outside development zones in Baħrija.
But as the Prime Minister accepted Mepa auditor’s report on the Baħrija development and has said that he expects Mepa to fulfil the recommendations made, he has not said whether any action would be taken against the individuals who sat on the Development Control Commission board that illegally approved the last permit in 2007.
He reportedly avoided answering questions about what he planned to do in terms of accountability with regard to the board’s alleged illegal action, especially since he is the minister responsible for Mepa.
The same board that approved the Baħrija permit had also been involved in the granting of a controversial permit for a supermarket in Safi in an outside development zone - which had prompted their resignation - and also in the controversial outline development permit for a disco in Mistra.
Victor Scerri has insisted that he would be defending himself, and his family, but would be doing so as a private citizen without the shackles of his former political post. He is insisting he did nothing illegal and should not pay for the authority’s mistakes.
His architect, Siggiewi Mayor Robert Musumeci has reacted to the Mepa auditor report and the allegation of undue pressures on the DCC Board members during the process..
“I’m not crazy,” was Robert Musumeci’s reply while insisting that the case did not affect his professional integrity as an architect because it was his job to defend planning applications.
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