Public land cannot be used for John Dalli’s personal security, court rules

Disgraced former European Commissioner John Dalli cannot expect public agricultural land to be used for his personal security, the Court of Appeal has ruled, throwing out a legal challenge he filed against the Lands Authority.

Remarking that the 74-year-old Siggiewi resident is not a farmer, the Appeals Court presided over by Judge Lawrence Mintoff rejected Dalli’s appeal and declared he has no right to acquire a portion of arable land next to his farmhouse to prevent third parties from eavesdropping on his affairs.

The issue, already decided at first instance last year but appealed by the former minister and his daughter Luisa concerns a portion of agricultural land adjacent to Dalli’s farmhouse on the outskirts of Siġġiewi.

The public land had been made available for lease by the Lands Authority through a tender in 2021, strictly for agricultural purposes. Dalli and his daughter made a bid, asking for the first right of refusal since the land in question abuts theirs.

Dalli argued that he needed the land for his personal security as he couldn’t afford to have a small room situated on the land ending up being used by third parties to “eavesdrop” on him in his home.

Claiming that he has received various death threats over the past years, Dalli told the court he wanted the land so that he could build a high wall to protect himself and his family.

Admitting that he was not a farmer, he said that his daughter, Luisa, who lives with him together with her husband, was ‘a full-time farmer’ and uses the lands around his farmhouse to cultivate crops.

The Lands Authority had rejected Dalli’s application stating that since he was not a farmer himself, his bid was inadmissible.

Judge Mintoff agreed with the Lands Authority’s decision, confirming that Dalli had no right to claim the lease of the agricultural land even if it was adjacent to his farmhouse.

The Court found that since the land was arable and Dalli was not a farmer, it could not be used for any other function other than to be cultivated.

It said that despite the threats he claimed to have received, Dalli could not expect public land to be used for his own security as he had other measures at law at his disposal to protect himself.

Set on some four tumoli in pristine rural settings on the outskirts of Siġġiewi, Dalli had declared his property in his 2002 declaration of assets, when Finance Minister, as “a field in the limits of Siġġiewi”.

Over the years, the small building on the site morphed into a fully detached farmhouse, with a pool and surrounding land, through various piecemeal development applications mainly fronted by Anton Callus, the former minister’s brother-in-law.

Dalli, once a PN heavyweight who lost the leadership contest to Lawrence Gonzi after the end of the Eddie Fenech Adami era, was forced to resign as European Commissioner in 2012 following claims of sleaze and corruption. He is pleading not guilty on charges of bribery and trading in influence while he was serving in Brussels. That case continues.