Robert Abela, shielding Roderick to protect himself

Robert Abela isn’t just complicit in Roderick Galdes’s stinking property saga – he is fully responsible for it.

Abela decided that the public should never get to see his cabinet’s asset declarations. There’s too much in them that casts serious doubts on the provenance of the wealth and assets declared and too much obviously missing.

Abela’s priority in hiding those declarations was protecting himself. His own asset declarations didn’t make sense. He acquired new land and property but took no additional loans. He also runs his luxury yacht, costing tens of thousands annually. He’s developing his massive Żejtun property and his Xewkija hotel. And his savings increased despite his sole declared income being his meagre prime minister’s salary. That’s a circle that can’t be squared.

For 30 odd years, those asset declarations were regularly tabled in parliament. That’s what basic democracy requires – full transparency. But Abela vehemently refused to table those declarations.

He also blocked a freedom of information request to release them on the pretext of cabinet secrecy. Abela defied the media, the opposition, the standards commissioner and the OECD who all urged the prime minister to act like a democratic leader and publish those declarations. But Abela has too much to hide. So does Galdes.

Abela presented more lies and excuses. First, he falsely claimed the asset declarations were available to the public – they weren’t. Then, that the media could request them from the cabinet secretary. When they did, the cabinet secretary ignored them and then rejected their requests. Abela then claimed those documents are cabinet secrets and he can’t possibly release them. But his most ridiculous and insulting excuse was that the asset declaration system needs reform and, until then, he’ll stop publishing them. That’s like saying we need a new tax system and, until we reform it, nobody will pay any tax.

On November 20, Abela announced that the new asset declaration system will be ready in the “coming weeks”. Weeks later, nothing’s happened. Abela bluffed: “I believe, for transparency’s sake, there should be one kind of uniform asset declaration for everyone”.

Abela cynically claimed he acted with “full transparency”. In fact, it’s been two-and-a-half years since the last asset declarations were made available. Meanwhile Abela’s secrecy has been flagged in a Mapping Media Freedom report dated May 17.

Abela declared that he personally scrutinised the asset declarations, including his own, and found “everything was most regular”. Among those “most regular” declarations was Galdes’s.

Abela must now explain how the three lines of practically illegible handwriting that Galdes entered under “immobile property” can possibly be reconciled with Galdes’s property empire spanning the UK, Sicily, Malta and Gozo.

In Galdes’s last published declaration of assets he vaguely listed – residential home Qormi, residential house Luqa, residential house in Gozo (without specifying whether it was in Xagħra or Għarb), Studio Apartment UK (with no indication whether it’s in remote cheap Shetland or pricey central London), office St George Qormi, office St Sebastian Qormi, old ground floor property Qormi, unconverted house Siġġiewi, agricultural land and house in Sicily (no indication which part of the island), and part ownership of (more) land in Sicily.

Since then, Galdes acquired from Joseph Portelli his affordable €140,000 penthouse with its own airspace, rooftop jacuzzi and garage. Now we’ve found out about another dodgy deal with Portelli. Galdes bartered an apartment in Xagħra for a plot of land in Għarb in 2020. Which cabinet minister barters? Is Galdes a feudal lord from the 12th century?

Portelli not only provided Galdes with land in Għarb but also proceeded to carry out “works”. Those Għarb plots were still under promise of sale. Somehow, Galdes found out about them and engineered his dodgy scheme to barter his Xagħra flat for the Għarb plot – since then a whole house has materialised on that plot. Portelli’s spokesperson quickly washed his hands of that grimy deal, throwing the minister under the bus, declaring “the barter deal was the minister’s idea”.

Roderick Galdes simply played the victim- Kevin Cassar

Amphora Media has now confirmed that Galdes bought an entire residential block in the mountain village of Forni di Sopra in the idyllic Dolomites. Galdes also owns a ground floor apartment in Cortile Litrico, Catania, a villa in Contrada Cavetta Amenta, Syracuse, and another large villa complex in Ragusa.

Galdes spent tens of thousands more converting his villa in Syracuse from a derelict uninhabitable state to a fully converted residential property. He also renovated his villa in Ragusa. He also part-owns three parcels of agricultural land in Ragusa. Galdes lodged an application, with Norbert Bellia, to develop that land but this was rejected.

Galdes also converted his “undeveloped” property in Siġġiewi into tourist accommodation when the permit was for office use.

Galdes defended himself not by issuing bank statements, publishing contracts or addressing any of the evidence published. He simply played the victim, claiming that this was a “terror” attack on him and his family. The revelations by Times of Malta and Amphora Media are no attack – they raise legitimate questions which in a functioning democracy would trigger police raids on his many properties and offices and bring about his downfall.

The only attack we’ve seen is from  Abela on the media. He’s called the evidence unearthed by Times of Malta, and which Jason Azzopardi referred to in his criminal complaint, as “frivolous”, “speculation, conjectures”.

Those dodgy deals Galdes struck with Portelli aren’t frivolous, they’re no conjectures. They are indisputable facts revealed through the meticulous hard work of Times of Malta.

The revelations of Galdes’s multiple properties in Udine, Ragusa, Catania and Syracuse are not speculation. They are facts painstakingly discovered by Amphora Media’s determined journalists.

Abela insisted no MP could possibly be uncomfortable with Galdes’s dodgy deals. Only Abela could possibly be comfortable with a cabinet minister who “bought” a discounted penthouse from and bartered an apartment for land with a property mogul who benefitted handsomely from direct contracts with his ministry. Only Abela is comfortable with Galdes’s property empire, much of which he concealed.

Abela keeps defending Galdes. He keeps hiding those asset declarations. It’s not because he values transparency. It’s because hiding the truth from the public is the only way he can protect himself and his sleazy housing minister.

Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.