“I was his lawyer and I always kept a cordial relationship with my clients.” That was Prime Minister Robert Abela commenting about his special client, Christian Borg in an interview with Mark Laurence Zammit.
Abela’s relationship with the man accused of kidnapping and now investigated for money laundering and narcotics smuggling was so cordial that Borg signed cheques for €75,000 to Abela and his wife.
Abela’s relationship with Borg was so cordial that Abela entered into a shockingly dodgy deal with him over a “small Żabbar parcel of land”, making a profit of €45,000.
Abela’s relationship with Borg, who stands accused of kidnapping a man, threatening to cut off his fingers and rape his sister, was so cordial that, soon after Abela became prime minister, Borg was awarded three contracts by Transport Malta worth €247,908; Abela’s favourite client beat 42 other submissions to win that tender – an incredible feat!
Abela’s relationship with Borg was so cordial that Borg won another tender worth €108,405 from LESA on January 18, 2022.
Abela’s relationship with Borg was so cordial that Borg won an even more lucrative contract worth €3 million to provide judges and magistrates with leased vehicles. That contract was only cancelled after members of the judiciary complained to the chief justice.
Borg’s company that won those prized public contracts ran up €22 million in debts. Borg is now exposed as having made massive cash deposits of €400,000 without eliciting any reaction from Abela’s functioning institutions. In May 2019, he deposited €110,000 in 47 ATM transactions. On one day alone, he allegedly deposited €35,000 in 16 separate transactions.
Despite his tender age, Abela’s special client purchased €2.1 million worth of property without taking bank loans, claiming only €1.1 million in earnings between 2016 and 2020. The man has 170 cars registered in his name and another 1,500 cars owned by his companies.
Abela was Borg’s lawyer. He knew more about him than anybody else. Yet, our prime minister thought fit to enter into business with this man. Apart from the serious ethical issues of doing business with any client, Abela’s decision to profit from Borg’s dubious source of wealth is deeply disturbing.
Borg applied for a permit to develop the Żabbar plot of land in November 2017 before he even had a stake in that property. That property was subject to a promise of sale to a company owned by Bonnici Brothers – other clients of Abela with whom he had such cordial relationships that he entered into a separate Iklin property business deal with them.
On June 1, 2018, Lydia and Robert Abela “agreed” to buy the Żabbar plot of land for which Borg had applied for a development permit seven months earlier. That same day, the Planning Authority issued the development permit to Borg.
Within weeks, Robert and Lydia Abela ceded their rights to purchase the land to Borg, turning a €45,000 profit. Borg, aged 25, purchased that “small parcel of land in Żabbar” for over €300,000.
Abela was both Borg’s and the Planning Authority’s lawyer. The only sensible explanation for Abela’s involvement is that Abela facilitated the PA development permit for nine apartments and garages – and Borg rewarded him for it.
Robert Abela’s implosion will be even more catastrophic than his predecessor’s- Kevin Cassar
“That issue about Christian Borg, it’s a complicated story,” Zammit commented during his interview with Abela.
“It’s not complicated, it’s not complicated at all,” Abela bluffed.
“So, explain it.”
“I had nothing to hide and, of my own volition, I told a Times journalist about it,” Abela claimed.
“It was nothing, it’s what hundreds, thousands of Maltese do every year in the most regular way… completely regular, nothing hidden. Every penny has been declared, rest your mind.”
Nothing was regular about that deal. That’s why Abela panicked when confronted with the facts by Times journalist Jacob Borg. That’s why Abela refused to divulge how much profit he had made off the deal.
“How did you get yourself involved in a deal with a suspected criminal,” Borg asked the prime minister as he walked out of parliament.
Abela lost it! He launched into a bizarre attack. “Jacob, once your editor decided to enter into a conspiracy with the main PN strategist and was caught conspiring at Costa Coffee. I am not going to answer questions intended only for you to spin and lie as much as you can... And if you want something interesting about who evades taxes go and see the villa with a pool belonging to the opposition leader.”
Why was the prime minister so enraged? Why did he blow his top? What was that look of terror in his eye? Why the cold sweat? Well, now we’re starting to understand his panic. That hysterical outburst all makes sense.
“So, you didn’t question how a 25-year-old was involved in that sort of deal and where the money was coming from,” Jacob Borg asked Abela.
“We’re just talking about a small parcel of land in Żabbar,” Abela dismissed.
It wasn’t “just a small parcel of land”. Christian Borg gave Lydia Abela a €25,000 cheque on December 3, 2018. He gave her another €25,000 cheque the following day. That same day, he gave Robert Abela another €25,000 cheque. That’s €75,000 in two days.
We now know that Borg deposited hundreds of thousands of euros in cash with no questions asked. We know he amassed property worth millions without taking any loans. We know his company amassed over €20 million in debts. And, yet, Borg won hundreds of thousands of euros worth of public contracts, co-incidentally after Abela took power.
Borg even went on holiday to Las Vegas with tax commissioner Marvin Gaerty, the man Abela called to discuss Grech. What did Abela really tell Gaerty?
Any junior minister entangled in this crooked net would have been forced to resign long ago. But Abela will cling on, claiming everything is “completely regular”. But the writing is on the wall – Abela’s implosion will be even more catastrophic than his predecessor’s.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.