Watch: Galdes won't say how much tax he paid on his Gozo penthouse
Minister deflects when questioned on stamp duty, says reporting is 'spin'
Updated 4.10pm
Affordable Housing Minister Roderick Galdes has refused to disclose how much stamp duty he paid on a Gozo penthouse he bought for €140,000 earlier this year.
The Sunday Times of Malta revealed that Galdes bought the duplex penthouse in the Ħal Gelmus complex in Victoria, including a garage, airspace and rooftop jacuzzi for €140,000 from Joseph Portelli’s Excel Investments.
The final deed of sale was signed in January this year, on the basis of a promise of sale agreement he signed in 2024. But Galdes claims he locked in the property's €140,000 price by paying a €5,000 "reservation fee" in 2021, when prices were lower.
A fact-check carried out by Times of Malta on Wednesday was unable to find examples of a shell form penthouse with a garage in 2021 for the €140,000 price the minister paid.
Prices have risen considerably since then, with Gozo's property market booming. The current minimum price for a penthouse and garage within the Ħal Gelmus complex is circa €240,000.
Under Maltese law, property buyers must pay stamp duty equivalent to five per cent of the property's value, though that rate falls to just two per cent for residential property bought in Gozo.
Declared valuations are usually checked by a government-appointed architect.
When asked whether he paid stamp duty based on the penthouse's 2021 value or its value at the time the sale actually took place years later, a defiant Galdes deflected and simply said he had nothing to hide.
“Unlike others, I have always paid my taxes. The amount of tax I paid is declared. I am ready to face any scrutiny,” he said. "I took a risk and bought on plan at the price that was normal for Gozo at the time.”
Writing on Tuesday, lawyer and former MP Jason Azzopardi accused Galdes of having committed fraud by paying stamp duty on the €140,000 declared price.
Azzopardi said the crime was aggravated by the fact that Galdes, as an MP, is a public official.
Jason Azzopardi accused Galdes of fraud. Photo: FacebookGaldes claimed the original article revealing his property purchase was a "set up".
“This is how you spin stories and hurt families. Be careful,” he added.
Galdes had, through his lawyer, initially sought to suppress reporting of his penthouse purchase by claiming that questions about it constituted “harassment and defamation.”
While insisting he was not afraid of an investigation, Galdes also declined to comment on the optics of a social housing minister buying a property at a cut-price rate.
And when asked about the fact that Excel Housing, a subsidiary of the Excel Investments company Galdes bought his penthouse from, leased five apartment blocks to the Housing Authority to be used as social housing, the minister said there was nothing untoward about that.
The scheme was open to all developers, he said.