Updated 9.25pm with Josef Dimech reply
Jason Azzopardi has asked the courts to order an investigation into Economy Minister Silvio Schembri, saying the minister is living a lavish lifestyle well beyond what his declared income affords.
In a court application leaked on Saturday, Azzopardi, a lawyer and former PN MP, asked how a minister on a €65,000-a-year salary could afford to live in a high-end Ta’ Xbiex apartment and own and maintain a 30-foot cabin cruiser.
Apart from those expenses, Azzopardi said the minister was able to afford private tuition fees for his son, a €10,000-a-year berth for his boat, family holidays and pay down a home loan, while adding to his savings.
According to his parliamentary declaration of assets, Schembri's sole income is his ministerial salary, the application notes.
“Unless the minister is capable of turning water into wine or the miracle of feeding a crowd of thousands with five loaves and two fish, there is no reasonable explanation other than the fact that this unexplained wealth is the result of criminal wrongdoing/corruption and illegally laundered funds,” Azzopardi wrote in the court request.
The application cites media reports concerning various controversial deals struck by the Lands Authority to pawn off public land to private developers with ties to Schembri. Schembri was politically responsible for the Lands Authority between January 2020 and January 2023.
Among the deals cited in the application is one to sell a parcel of land in Mellieħa Heights to a consortium involving Paul Attard, director of GAP Property. A constituency office used by Schembri belongs to Attard, Azzopardi noted.
Another land deal flagged by Azzopardi concerned the sale of an alley in St George’s Bay to Garnet Investments, allowing it to complete a parcel of land it intends to develop into a massive mixed-use development as part of its Villa Rosa plans.
Garnet is owned by Anton Camilleri, a developer who also owns another constituency office used by the minister, Azzopardi noted.
Camilleri also sits on the council of the Malta Developers Association, which earlier on Saturday issued a statement saying innocent companies were being harmed by “unfounded claims” made in requests for magisterial inquiries. The MDA statement made no direct reference to Camilleri, Azzopardi or any particular inquiry request.
Azzopardi also flagged suspicions about Schembri’s ties to his Ta’ Xbiex landlord, developer and businessman Josef Dimech.
Apartments almost identical to Schembri’s cost €3,900 a month to rent, he noted, and Dimech had benefited from an INDIS concession allowing him to use industrial estate land in Ħal Far for purposes other than manufacturing.
Schembri is also politically responsible for INDIS.
In a statement sent through his holding company's CEO, Dimech flatly denied renting any property to Schembri, either personally or through a company.
"Any allegation that there is a commercial relationship of landlord and tenant with Minister Silvio Schembri in relation to an apartment in Ta' Xbiex is unfounded in fact and at Law. In addition and for the avoidance of any doubt, Minister Schembri does not occupy, under any title or gratuitously or on tolerance, any property owned by me or any of the companies in which I am shareholder," Dimech said.
He added that all his company activities in Ħal Far "are qualifying activities in terms of the applicable law and policies."
Many of the deals cited in Azzopardi’s court application were also mentioned in another probe request he filed in the courts two weeks ago, to investigate Lands Authority CEO Robert Vella.
Schembri’s role in those deals have also raised the suspicion of various NGOs. In October 2024, residents’ rights group Il-Kolletiv, a group of Mellieħa residents, independent politician Arnold Cassola, PN MP Albert Buttigieg, Mellieħa mayor Gabriel Micallef, and deputy mayor Matthew Borg Cuschieri jointly asked the National Audit Office to investigate the minister.
Schembri denies 'recycled insinuations'
Schembri has consistently denied playing any part in Lands Authority deals, saying such decisions are taken by an independent board with no ministerial involvement.
The minister made an indirect reference to Azzopardi’s request to investigate him in a post he published on Facebook on New Year’s Eve.
In that post, Schembri said Azzopardi had “launched an attack on me and my family”.
“I categorically deny these recycled insinuations, which I have already spoken about and have no problem speaking about again. This is clearly part of a coordinated attack by a small clique intent on distracting and destabilising the government,” the minister said.
Government push to reform inquiry system
Azzopardi has filed multiple court requests for magisterial probes into ministers and state agencies in recent months. Last month, after Azzopardi asked for a probe into Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, the prime minister announced plans to reform the existing system of magisterial inquiries to “stop abuse”.
Under the current system, any private citizen can ask the courts to assign a magistrate to investigate an issue. All such applications must first be assessed by a magistrate and are subject to appeal.
One such request – filed by Azzopardi on behalf of rule of law Repubblika to investigate the privatisation of three state hospitals – triggered a political earthquake last year after prosecutors filed charges against former prime minister Joseph Muscat and others.
It remains unclear how the government intends to reform the existing system. Last week, Prime Minister Robert Abela said he wants inquiries to be more transparent and subject to public scrutiny. Earlier on Saturday, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said the intention was to end “fishing expeditions”.
“We are not going to take away anybody's right, we want to strengthen your rights but we want to make the system more responsible,” Attard said.