Updated 9.55am with Speaker's statement 

Speaker Anġlu Farrugia is refusing to provide the tax assessment that Prime Minister Robert Abela filed in 2017, claiming that doing so goes contrary to legal advice received by his office.

Media houses have the legal power to request the tax assessments of all MPs filed with the Revenue Commissioner throughout their time in parliament.

The Speaker has, however, turned down Times of Malta’s request, submitted in January, for the income assessment filed by Abela in 2017, the year he was first elected to parliament.

Citing legal advice by an unnamed lawyer, the Speaker’s office said the interpretation given to the law was that the year of assessment counts from the year after an MP is elected. 

“Therefore, if a member was elected in 2017, the year of assessment in which such member first became a member of the House would be the 2018 year of assessment,” the legal advice read.

On February 11, Times of Malta sent Parliament its own legal opinion by a leading law firm, pointing out that the term ‘year of assessment’ is used globally to signify the year in which the assessment of income is carried out in relation to the income generated the previous year.

The legal advice clearly states that tax filings accessible by media organisations should cover the MP’s declared income from the year prior to entering parliament to the year in which the MP stops being a member of the House.

This, therefore, means that the media is legally entitled to Abela’s tax filings made in 2017, the year he was first elected as an MP.

Despite a number of reminders since February, the Speaker’s office has yet to give its feedback on the legal advice or hand over the requested tax filing.

Last year, Abela declared gross earnings of €352,000 in 2019, less €125,000 in expenses claimed. He also declared another €25,000 in income as an MP.

His earnings for 2018 amounted to a gross €278,000, less €156,000 in expenses, as well as €23,000 from his parliamentarian’s salary.

The previous year, 2017, he grossed €122,000, claiming €87,000 in expenses, and an income from parliament of €11,000, as well his wife’s income of €146,000.

There was no mention of any earnings by his wife in 2018 and 2019.

His law firm has benefitted from hundreds of thousands in direct orders over the years, even as an MP.

These included orders from the Planning Authority, whose former boss – Johann Buttigieg – he continues to defend over his exchanges with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech.

Abela came under scrutiny last December after it was revealed he had discussed opposition leader Bernard Grech’s tax affairs with Revenue Commissioner Marvin Gaerty.

The prime minister denied there was any discussion, claiming he merely handed Gaerty information that Grech had not paid his taxes for years.

Gaerty’s arrest late last year had sparked concern in local business circles about the information that could be contained on his work phone, which was seized by police officers as part of an investigation into his own chats with Fenech.

No further action is known to have been taken against Gaerty since then.

Speaker says he will release returns if he is given different legal advice

In a statement on Saturday morning, the Office of the Speaker said it has been the practice that the first tax returns to be released are those of the first year in which somebody is elected an MP. This applies for all MPs. The only exception is if an MP is re-elected after a break, in which case the returns of the intervening years are also published.

The Speaker said that should he be given contrary legal advice he will ask for the tax returns from the Tax Commissioner.