Kurt Buhagiar’s reinstatement: Owen blames Stefan, who blames Robert

Isabelle Bonnici, the grieving mother of 20-year old Jean Pual Sofia, killed in 2022  after a collapse of an illegal construction of a factory in Kordin, is up in arms after Lands Minister Owen Bonnici confirmed to her The Shift’s revelations that one of the accused of her son’s involuntary murder was given back his government job at the Lands Authority.

Lands Minister Owen Bonnici refused to take responsibility for reinstating Kurt Buhagiar to his job, and instead told Sofia’s mother that it was his predecessor, Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, who had endorsed the decision.

The fellow cabinet member quickly countered Bonnici’s statement.

Taking to social media, Minister Zrinzo Azzopardi dismissed Owen Bonnici’s declaration and insisted that it was the CEO of the Lands Authority, Robert Vella, who made the decision, adding that he was not involved in it.

The Shift has been informed that, despite earlier reports of Robert Vella advocating for the reinstatement of his former driver, both the Minister responsible for the Lands Authority and the Prime Minister were briefed on the decision and gave their approval.

Last week, The Shift revealed that Buhagiar, who was suspended on half pay from his job at the Lands Authority soon after he was arraigned and accused, with others, of the involuntary homicide of Sofia, was given back his full-time job.

According to public service rules, public employees accused of criminal offences in Court are usually suspended on half pay until their case is heard and decided.

However, these strict rules were recently watered down by Prime Minister Robert Abela to allow certain civil servants whom he wanted to give an advantage to remain in place.

A case in point is Permanent Secretary Ronald Mizzi, who was not even suspended from his job despite an ongoing Court indictment related to criminal offences in connection with the hospital’s heist scandal.

Kurt Buhagiar, considered to be the Lands Authority’s boss’s right-hand man, was reinstated a few weeks ago.

Both Minister Owen Bonnici and CEO Robert Vella have so far refused to explain their decisions despite several questions and reminders by The Shift.

Buhagiar was arraigned as the owner of the collapsed building together with Matthew Schembri. They own Allplus Ltd, which, according to a public inquiry, should never have qualified for a project approval on government land by Malta Enterprise.

At the time, William Wait was the Chairman of Malta Enterprise. Buhagiar served as his driver previously when Wait was chairman of the Water Services Corporation.

Wait denies any connection to the approval of his former driver’s project.