HSBC Malta questioned how the high-flying Christian Borg could afford to muscle in on a €2 million hotel purchase “at such a young age”.

Borg, a 28-year-old who made no effort to disguise his extraordinary wealth, has been in the spotlight lately over a property deal with Prime Minister Robert Abela.

While Abela has downplayed his lack of professional curiosity about the source of Borg’s wealth when entering his deal, the youngster’s separate attempt to buy a €2 million Buġibba hotel off HSBC appeared to raise red flags with the bank.

HSBC Malta asked how Christian Borg accumulated so much wealth “at such a young age”.

E-mail correspondence filed in court shows the bank demanded to know how Borg had managed to build such a strong business so early in life.

“You seem to have started your business young in life – May you kindly elaborate on this?,” the August 2019 e-mail from HSBC reads.

“Also as regards to your car hire business, you had acquired 100 cars in just one year. May you kindly elaborate?

“This info is essential for us to understand how you were in a position at such a young age to be able to build such a strong business.”

Borg, who features in a drug smuggling and money laundering investigation, attempted to explain to the bank how his “aggressive” investment strategy to expand his car rental business had reaped rewards.

The explanation, however, appeared to offer little comfort to HSBC.

The bank abruptly pulled the plug on a scheduled viewing of the hotel with Borg and politely informed him that they could not “accommodate” his €2 million offer.

Borg was last month charged with complicity in a violent kidnapping attempt together with four other associates.

Doorstepped by Times of Malta earlier this month, the prime minister sought to downplay the size of his own property deal with the alleged criminal.

Abela said the deal involved a “small parcel of land in Żabbar”, but refused to say how much money he made from it or whether he had questioned the source of Borg’s wealth.

Times of Malta has revealed how Abela took a €45,000 cut from the deal, which he entered into on the same day the Planning Authority greenlit an application to build a block of apartments on the Żabbar land.

At the time, Abela was also the Planning Authority’s legal adviser.

The property deal involved a legal transfer of the purchasing rights to Borg which tax experts say can be used to conceal possible financial crime.

Abela, who in the past has acted as Borg’s lawyer, declined to explain how he came to be involved in the deal.

The prime minister would not say if he had facilitated similar deals for developers and contractors.