Malta’s Planning Authority has been ordered to pay €331,000 in damages after a court found it guilty of showing preferential treatment to a notorious developer.

The case involves an ODZ plot in Qormi Road, Luqa that now features a LIDL supermarket.

Back in the 1990s, three separate applications to turn the area into a garden centre were turned down by the PA. In their feedback, the PA said any development in that zone couldn’t reach a height taller than the airport’s perimeter fence.

Malta’s International Airport had also objected to the development in the zone as it could present a hazard to flying aircraft.

Following their multiple rejections and hearing that they would not be allowed a permit, the landowners decided to sell the plot off at a lower price… only to find out that a permit had been issued for a supermarket soon after.

It turned out that Charles ‘Ċaqnu’ Polidano had bought the land, obtained a supermarket permit and then sold the land to LIDL for three times the price he paid for the plot.

The landowners sold part of the plot to Polidano for €230,000 in 2007, who then purchased the rest of the area from J.D.G Properties for €1.16 million. By March of that year, he had obtained a supermarket permit, and four months later sold it all to LIDL for €4.63 million.

This week, a court said the circumstances showed a “clear case of distinct treatment” and agreed that the original landowners had been damaged by this treatment.