Lands CEO trashes ‘illegal’ Grant Thornton’s valuation of Fortina

A parliamentary process to reassess the fee paid for a 2017 change-of-use permit on land owned by Fortina has yet to begin, as the Lands Authority continues to seek guidance on how to proceed, its chief executive told MPs on Monday.

Robert Vella, CEO of the Lands Authority, said he has not yet drawn up the terms of reference for a new valuation, despite having been instructed to do so two months ago by parliament’s National Audit Office Accounts Committee. Vella said he expects to finalise the brief by the end of January.

The reassessment follows a National Audit Office (NAO) finding that the original valuation – €8.1mn, based on advice from three architects commissioned by the Lands Authority in 2017 – was flawed. However, Vella dismissed a separate report by audit firm Grant Thornton, which had put the value of the transaction at €21million, calling the assessment “full of holes”.

Appearing before the committee, Vella – a government appointee who has faced criticism over previous land-related decisions – said an internal verification team he chaired had reviewed the Grant Thornton study and found its assumptions “neither legal nor technically sound”. He argued that if contemporary methods were applied, the transaction would have been valued at €8.2 million, not €21 million.

“The Grant Thornton report is not correct, would not have been acceptable to us, and we would have rejected it,” Vella said, adding that he believed the valuation was “illegal” because Maltese law requires such assessments to be carried out by three architects appointed by the Lands Authority.

Opposition MPs questioned the scope and credibility of Vella’s review, arguing his work did not match the mandate given to him by the committee.

Vella insisted that he needs more time to draw up the new terms of reference for the three original architects – Dennis Camilleri, Claude Mallia and Mario Cassar –  who conducted the original 2017 valuation. He said they had agreed to revisit their assessment once new terms of reference were finalised.

The Grant Thornton report, one of six valuations conducted under disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s administration, only surfaced during an NAO inquiry, which criticised officials for withholding the document from parliament and the public. The six valuations ranged widely from €2.3 million to €23 million.

Fortina ultimately paid €8.1 million for the change-of-use concession, but did so under protest, arguing the Lands Authority had overcharged compared with other valuations it had issued on similar properties.

Opposition figures and independent candidate Arnold Cassola, who requested the NAO investigation, have alleged political interference and favourable treatment for the company’s owners.