The Malta Independent on Sunday
Fenech, Azzopardi maintain they never met Zaren Vassallo over Lowenbrau deal
● Justice Minister says court evidence ‘proof of political interference’
Businessman Zaren Vassallo has referred to a 2011 meeting with the ‘Minister responsible for lands’ over the Lowenbrau deal but both Tonio Fenech and Jason Azzopardi, then Minister and Parliamentary Secretary responsible for lands in 2011, deny having ever discussed the land transfer deal with Mr Vassallo. The businessman, who is well known for his PN links, yesterday declined giving further comment on the issue.
The land in question was given to Lowenbrau in 1990 on a perpetual emphyteusis and an annual non-revisable ground rent of Lm10,000 (€23,000). The contract also included a condition which stated that the land could only be used as a brewery. In 2009, Marsovin (then owner of Lowenbrau) redeemed the ground rent, as was its legal right, for €466,000 (€23,000 x 20 years). But the ‘brewery-only’ condition was mysteriously removed without charge. When Jason Azzopardi found out about this in 2011, he ordered legal action against the Vassallo Group, by then the owner of the land. A panel of architects had concluded that the freehold value of the land in 1990 was €700,000, and the Vassallo Group was made to pay the difference.
The NAO argued, however, that the architects should not have used 1990 values. It considered this valuation as “grossly understated and misrepresentative of the true value of this land”. The value of the condition, which when removed made the land freehold more valuable, ought to have been calculated using contemporary values, not those of 19 years earlier, the NAO said and the politicians should have made sure that the public got value for money. However, Dr Azzopardi says he is proud that he did not interfere because politicians should not go into such things. The Labour Party claims that Azzopardi made sure that Zaren Vassallo got the land for a very cheap price. (In actual fact, it was Marsovin that bought the land but Vassallo paid the ground rent on its behalf by way of deposit on the €8 million he paid for purchasing the property).
In order to try and prove his point, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had claimed to be in possession of an affidavit which proved that Dr Azzopardi had met with Mr Vassallo and promised him that a compromise would be found (in the disagreement between the government and Vassallo Group, which was followed by court proceedings).
Dr Azzopardi claimed that such an affidavit was a fake. Then, on Friday, during a Xarabank debate, the Justice Minister revealed that the ‘affidavit’ was actually an excerpt from Mr Vassallo’s court testimony, heard in a case filed by Vassallo Group against Marsovin. The testimony speaks of a meeting Mr Vassallo had in 2011 with the “minister responsible for lands” during which the politician assured him that a compromise would be found.
‘I was not minister in 2011’ Azzopardi –
Jason Azzopardi immediately pointed out that in 2011 he was not the minister responsible for lands. “Back then I was Parliamentary Secretary for Lands, under Minister Tonio Fenech.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Dr Azzopardi insisted that Zaren Vassallo could not possibly be referring to him because he (Azzopardi) “has
never met” the businessman over the Lowenbrau issue. Asked if Mr Vassallo was referring to Tonio Fenech, Dr Azzopardi said he could not speak for his PN colleague, but said Mr Fenech had never mentioned anything of the sort.
‘We never discussed Lowenbrau’ Fenech –
This newspaper also spoke to Mr Fenech, who denied having met Mr Vassallo on the topic in question. “I cannot say that I never spoke to him but we never discussed this subject.”
Mr Fenech added that Mr Vassallo had had no reason to speak to him because Vassallo’s disagreement was with Marsovin, not the government. “The NAO report makes it clear that the Lowenbrau report was never placed on my desk.”
The former finance minister said in 2011 he had a Parliamentary Secretary responsible for lands under him – Jason Azzopardi – and the latter would deal with that sector unless it was something out of the ordinary. “If Zaren Vassallo had come to speak to me I would have sent him to Jason. If his file had been brought to me, I would have sent it to Jason. But none of those things happened.”
No further comment Vassallo –
In the meantime, Zaren Vassallo yesterday refused to comment further on the subject and said he was sticking to a statement he sent on Friday, in which he pointed out that he had paid Marsovin €8 million for the Qormi land. Although he did not say it (actually Mr Vassallo said he did not want to enter the political fray), the statement served to allay the impression previously given by the government that the Vassallo group had only paid €700,000 for the land.
In total, the group paid some €8.3 million – something the PL had, until recently, conveniently forgot to mention. While the PL has tried to give the impression that Mr Vassallo had bought the land on the cheap, the real winner in the deal was Marsovin, which paid €466,000 to the GPD and then sold the land to Mr Vassallo for a whopping €8 million. (In 2009, the NAO estimated value of the land was €7.3 million) On top of the €8 million, the Vassallo group had to pay an extra €300,000 to remove the brewery-only condition.