Former minister Carmelo Abela claimed on Wednesday that allegations linking him to the 2010 failed HSBC armed robbery had negatively impacted his reputation as well as his political career, possibly accounting for his failure to be reinstated to a ministerial post. 

“In fact, although I was elected on the third district at the last elections, I wasn’t confirmed as minister,” said Abela, when he returned to the witness stand in libel proceedings he filed against former Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.

Those proceedings were triggered by a Facebook post wherein Azzopardi alleged that Abela aided the mastermind behind the botched bank heist for a €300,000 payment from the loot. 

Abela categorically denied that allegation, describing any such links to the attempted hold up which had ended in a violent shoot-out, as “stories, fairytales and inventions”.

The former minister resumed his testimony, taking up where he had left off in May when he explained that he had left his job at HSBC on secondment after venturing into politics in 2014.

But he was technically “still on the bank’s books and still entitled to go back,” he told the court.

Abela was scheduled to continue testifying in June but his testimony was held up by a transcript problem.

On Wednesday, when asked by his lawyer, Pawlu Lia, whether there was anything else he wished to add, the soft-spoken politician said that the story had obviously affected his personal reputation as well as his political career. 

The allegations linking him to the 2010 incident had doubtlessly also had repercussions on his family, namely, his wife, children and parents.

“I could see the effect at home. The worry they went through. It was not only me but also what they had to go through,” Abela said, describing this as a negative experience. 

Yet, ever since the allegations surfaced around October 2020, the police never sent for him and nor had they done so years ago at the time of the attempt. 

“No member of the corps ever sent for me to ask questions or investigate me,” went on Abela.

In more recent times, as the allegations attracted coverage by the media, he personally took the initiative to approach the police, supplying all information and also handing over a copy of the affidavit he had filed in these libel proceedings. 

“I told them my story. I made myself available to the police,” Abela said, adding that he had not been asked questions about the HSBC bank attempt. 

“I was the one who spoke. There was no interrogation,” he explained.

No action against him was taken by the bank, either back in 2010 or in the following months and in more recent times. 

“So if the police did not do anything and the bank did not do anything, why was it negative,” questioned Abela’s lawyer.

“My reputation suffered,” replied the politician, adding that in his previous role as foreign affairs minister he had closer contact with foreign counterparts who, obviously, also heard about the allegations in his regard. 

“The story damaged my reputation.”

Abela then drew a distinction between old acquaintances who knew him well and, therefore, did not believe the allegations, and others with whom he was less familiar.

The latter obviously judged him in light of those allegations, also commenting on public platforms. 

“Did you ask Prime Minister Robert Abela why you were not made minister again? Does it mean that the PM believed these allegations rather than your denial,” pressed Azzopardi’s lawyer, Joseph Zammit Maempel, in cross-examination. 

“Since this case is still pending and has not reached judgment stage, it could have potentially been the reason,” replied Abela, pointing out that he had been given no reason and was, indeed, not owed one.

“That’s the PM’s prerogative,” replied the former minister, wrapping up Wednesday’s testimony.

The case, presided over by magistrate Rachel Montebello, continues in November.