Lands Authority chief officer’s bid for a garage in Siġġiewi social housing estate ends up in court

The Lands Authority is currently facing court proceedings over a bid filed by one of its chief officers, Josef Agius, for a garage in a social housing estate in Siġġiewi, after one of the estate’s residents claimed the right of first refusal.

The chief officer heads the Estate Management Directorate responsible for a wide range of functions related to the ownership of public land, including property valuations prior to the sale of public land by tender.

For unit no. 42 in Wied Ħesri Housing Estate, Agius filed a bid of €68,475, narrowly outbidding an elderly resident within the estate, Filippa Elmer, who filed a bid for €65,060. She is now contesting Agius’ bid in court, with the latest hearing held on Tuesday afternoon.

Besides bidding for unit no. 42, Agius also filed a bid for unit no. 38, another garage in the same housing estate, which was estimated at €70,120.

Again, Agius’s bid slightly surpassed the offers from two other bidders: a couple who bid €67,892 and an individual who bid €64,001. The tenders for garage units no. 38 and no. 42 were published on 16 May, 2025.

The double bidding on these two units is significant because of Agius’ had access to privileged information within the directorate before and after the tender was published, though the Authority insists Agius’ conflict of interest was declared and addressed.

The applicant who challenged the LA’s official’s bid for unit no. 42 is an elderly woman whose family would benefit directly from having access to such a garage.

While the Elmer family’s claim to a right of refusal is on shaky grounds since their apartment does not directly touch the garage in question, sources described Agius’ conduct as questionable on moral and ethical grounds.

In court on Tuesday, the Lands Authority heavily pushed back against the plaintiff’s argument that Agius’ bid amounted to a conflict of interest due to his position.

Three witnesses were asked to testify during Tuesday’s hearing: Lands Authority CEO Robert Vella, Agius himself, and an officer working for the authority’s disposals unit, Ronald Psaila.

Before Agius’ testimony, the Lands Authority’s lawyer, Maria Ruth Ciantar, appeared to object to the fact that The Shift had sent questions directly to Agius prior to the hearing, noting that the case is yet to be adjudicated and that the press was nonetheless present in court to report on it.

“The media must do their job, as we must do ours,” magistrate Victor Axiak said in response.

During his testimony in front of the Administrative Review Tribunal, the Authority’s chief officer argued that he went out of his way to declare a potential conflict of interest throughout this process by emailing the CEO about his interest in the garage when he decided to submit a bid.

He explained that after an applicant signals interest in a government owned property by filing what is known as a GLA-1 application online, a case officer from the authority compiles a report which is to be used by the CEO to determine whether the applicant’s request is to be accepted, modified, or rejected.

In the case of unit no. 42, Agius said he only got to know about it after the authority’s valuations committee was asked to reassess the tender. The reassessment occurs when a tender is published three times and no bids are received.

“When the tender was issued the first three times, I was not aware of this property or its status. I only got to know about it when the valuation committee was reassessing it,” Agius said in court when questioned about his bid.

“When I got to know about it through my presence on the valuation committee, I declared a potential conflict of interest and recused myself from the committee’s deliberations,” Agius added.

Agius noted that, even though the tenders in question were valued at less than €100,000 and were therefore not subject to the same level of oversight as tenders exceeding that threshold, he nonetheless took additional steps to ensure his conflict of interest was declared and documented.

The Authority’s CEO, Robert Vella, insisted that he personally oversees final approvals for every application that goes through Lands, and that he made it a point to ensure that Agius was not involved in any stage of the process.

Vella also confirmed receiving Agius’ email, further adding that he brought the case to the attention of the Lands Authority’s board of directors to ensure that everyone within the authority’s hierarchy was aware of it.

During his testimony, inspector Ronald Psaila confirmed that the property inhabited by the Elmer family does not directly touch the unit in question, explaining that he was personally tasked with looking into the Elmer family’s claim.

The Lands Authority has established a reputation over the past years for a lack of transparency and accountability, questionable hiring practices, and documented cases of abuse – including the infamous Gaffarena scandal, which had led to the resignation of then-parliamentary secretary (now minister) Michael Falzon.

The Shift has reported extensively on abuses within the Authority, many of which occurred on CEO Robert Vella’s watch.

Within last year alone, the Lands Authority dished out public land in Valletta to lawyers close to the Prime Minister, failed to investigate how one of its own insiders won a property tender for just €1, reinstated the developer charged with the involuntary homicide of Jean Paul Sofia as an employee, and undermined the government’s potential compensation for public land which was sold to Fortina group by attacking the credibility of an independent valuation report.