Prime minister silent on lack of ministerial declarations of assets

With just a few days for parliament to wrap up its year and rise for the Christmas holidays, Prime Minister Robert Abela is yet to table the annual declarations of assets of members of his cabinet.

According to the ministerial code of ethics, all ministers and parliamentary secretaries must declare all their assets and those of their spouses/partners by March of each year.

The prime minister publishes these through parliament, usually as soon as the House reconvenes following the summer recess.

The spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister, Edward Montebello, did not reply to questions on why the declarations had not been submitted, nine months after they were due. He did not state when Abela planned to table these documents in parliament.

So far, the latest published declarations of assets date back to 2022. When published, the declarations became a hot topic as many ministers, including the prime minister, did not declare the assets and bank deposits held by their spouses even though the rules obliged them to do so.

A counter-narrative created by those in government implied the spouse’s declarations were no longer necessary. This is not true.

The Shift questioned why the prime minister was trying to give the wrong impression and turned to the Standards Commissioner, who confirmed that all members of Cabinet, including the prime minister, must list their spouse’s assets in their annual declarations.

The prime minister’s last declaration of assets raised questions about whether Abela was using undeclared assets held by his wife Lydia to pay for property acquisitions without declaring them as required. This is because, despite purchasing a new property in Gozo in 2022, Robert Abela’s declared savings increased and did not reflect the expenditure on the property.

Robert Abela had insisted that his family’s income for 2022 stood at just €65,000 – his salary as prime minister.

This prompted independent candidate Arnold Cassola to ask the Standards Commissioner to investigate.

Following revelations by The Shift, Cassola had sent a request to the commissioner noting that while in 2022, Abela bought land in Xewkija for €180,000, this was not reflected in the asset declaration. He noted that the prime minister’s declared assets did not decrease by the equivalent amount. Instead, there was a slight increase.

“Since the prime minister does not have the gifts of the magician Houdini, it would be wise for Dr Abela to clearly explain to the Maltese taxpayer the origin of this unexplained wealth,” Cassola said in his letter to the Commissioner.

No reply has been issued yet by Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi.