Gaffarena still to pay 2012 fine over illegal Ċavett restaurant site

Marco Gaffarena has lost a court challenge to a €12,650 Planning Authority penalty concerning the illegal Ċavett restaurant site in Tal-Ħandaq, Qormi, in the latest ruling in an enforcement dispute stretching back to 2012.

Magistrate Joseph Gatt dismissed Gaffarena’s application and ordered him to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Gaffarena argued that Antoine Azzopardi, known as Iċ-Ċavett, had occupied the property and carried out unauthorised works without his knowledge or approval. He maintained that he should not have to pay penalties arising from another person’s actions.

The court rejected his challenge, finding that an earlier tribunal decision reducing other penalties did not cover the €12,650 invoice disputed in these proceedings.

That decision had reduced four invoices totalling €50,000 to €25,000. The invoice before Magistrate Gatt was separate and remained unaffected.

The court also held that Gaffarena had not appealed the original enforcement notice through the available procedure. Arguments challenging his responsibility under that notice could not subsequently be used to resist payment of the penalties.

It rejected his contention that the fine was retrospective because the notice dated from 2012. The penalty concerned non-compliance during the relevant period, rather than the date when the notice was issued.

The magistrate criticised the application’s drafting and the considerable amount of irrelevant evidence presented during proceedings.

Azzopardi was released from the case because the challenge should have been directed against the Planning Authority, which issued the payment demand. That procedural decision did not determine responsibility for the unauthorised works.

The dispute concerns agricultural land in Tal-Handaq, where enforcement action targeted limestone structures, paving, corrugated-sheet roofing and the unauthorised commercial serving of food and drinks.

Subsequent breach notices recorded continued commercial activity, material spread over soil, extensions and a swimming pool. Further development included animal enclosures, additional structures and scrap storage.

The site was publicly promoted as Cavett’s Place or Taċ-Ċavett.

The venue attracted scrutiny in 2015 when the land became linked to the scandalous Old Mint Street compensation deal, through which Gaffarena received cash and public property in exchange for his half-share in a Valletta building.