UK tax authorities have been asked to turn over any information they hold on Labour MP Ian Castaldi Paris after leaked chats show he had bragged about a multimillion-euro property in London. 

Castaldi Paris said chats about pursuing a £16 million (€18.7m) Kensington property he had with alleged murder conspirator Yorgen Fenech was down to “bluff”. The chats were first revealed by MaltaToday. 

Sources told Times of Malta the Inland Revenue Department had reached out to their UK counterparts to hand over any intelligence they may hold on Castaldi Paris. 

Ian Castaldi Paris

“We want to verify whether these claims are indeed ‘bluff’ or if there is some truth to Castaldi Paris failing to declare holdings he has overseas,” a source at the tax department said.

Castaldi Paris' modest savings

According to obligatory financial filings made to parliament, Castaldi Paris has a modest €18,200 in bank savings.

He also declared ownership of a property in Lija, bought against a bank loan.

Castaldi Paris owns another three properties in Lija, Attard and Santa Venera via a Maltese company jointly owned with his wife.

The latter three properties were not mentioned in his asset declaration, with Castaldi Paris saying he did not list them as they are owned through the company E&M Properties. 

His joint shareholding of E&M Properties was declared in the financial filings. 

Fenech initiated the September 2019 chat with Castaldi Paris after getting wind of his interest in the €3.1 million Mdina property. 

The Tumas Group magnate apologised for muscling in on the property, saying he would be willing to cede the promise of sale if Castaldi Paris wanted the pricey property overlooking the Mdina bastions. 

Castaldi Paris replied to Fenech by saying his intention was to renovate the property and flip it for a profit. He also told Fenech he owns three properties in London and was now looking for a “big mansion” after losing out on the Mdina deal.

Castaldi Paris even invited the Tumas Group magnate to “do something together” on the next deal.

'Manly bluff'

The Labour MP has put the chats about the London properties down to “manly bluff”.

Questioned by Times of Malta last month how he was in the market for the Mdina house given his modest declared assets, Castaldi Paris said he was never interested and never intended to buy the property.

“I could never afford to buy such a property,” the MP had said.

Castaldi Paris said that he knew about the Mdina property because its owner used to live opposite his office in Attard.

“We spoke almost daily. He used to tell me that he has a house in Mdina for sale at €4 million,” he said.

Labour MP and former junior minister Rosianne Cutajar. Photo: DOI

This same Mdina property would go on to land Castaldi Paris’s Labour colleague, Rosianne Cutajar in hot water over tens of thousands of euros in alleged cash payments she received for brokering the sale to Fenech.

Castaldi Paris was the notary who drew up one of the affidavits by property seller Joseph Camilleri, claiming Cutajar had failed to return the brokerage fees after the deal fell through following Fenech’s November 2019 arrest.

The Standards Commissioner concluded in July that Cutajar had pocketed the brokerage fees, which she failed to declare in her yearly assets declaration to parliament.

The conclusion saw Cutajar’s chances of returning to Cabinet dashed, having earlier resigned as a parliamentary secretary pending the outcome of the ethics probe.