PM shuts down Standards Commissioner investigation on his Gozo property

The Standards Commissioner has been forced to shut down an investigation on property the prime minister bought in Xewkija, Gozo, which he is turning into a boutique hotel, citing the time limit for complaints to be filed.

The request for an investigation was filed by Momentum Chair Arnold Cassola based on an investigation by The Shift which revealed that the purchase had not been listed in the prime minister’s declaration of assets.

The Shift reported on 11 February that the prime minister has refused to explain a €180,000 discrepancy in his personal wealth declarations to parliament in 2021 related to the purchase of a plot of land in Xewkija.

The contract of purchase was provided to the Commissioner.

In his 2021 declaration, Abela told parliament he had some €375,000 in cash deposited in local banks.

A year later, in his 2022 declaration, his bank account deposits increased by some €12,000, ending the year with €387,000 in bank deposits, plus another €20,000 in new Malta government stocks.

The €180,000 he paid for the acquisition of a new plot in Xewkija, Gozo, through a contract signed in April 2022, was not reflected in his asset declarations.

Abela has refused to explain this discrepancy. And now, the prime minister has told Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi the investigation is time-barred:

“Before any investigation based on complaints, the Commissioner would do well to make sure the complaint was filed within the statutory period of 30 days.”

The Commissioner could not proceed with the investigation, although he stressed that he had already raised the fact that the time period was too short.

Azzopardi said, “It is difficult to understand why these conditions were imposed on breaches of ethics when the prescription was removed on graver crimes related to political corruption that could lead to prison sentences.”

The Commissioner said he endorsed the recommendations of the OECD that the time period for investigations should be extended.

Reacting, Cassola stated: “When a prime minister resorts to the prescription term to avoid being investigated for wrongdoing, this is the biggest admission of wrongdoing.”

He added that Malta was in “a sorry state” when its prime minister had to resort to the tactics of a criminal lawyer in court to avoid full transparency on his behaviour.”

The closure of this investigation follows several moves by the government to reduce transparency on asset declarations. Every minister and parliamentary secretary is required to submit their declarations on income and assets by March of every year.

The last declarations available are for 2022. While Abela stated that he earned only €65,000 and that his wife had no earnings, his savings increased despite spending hundreds of thousands on acquiring property in Xewkija.

The 2023 declarations were never published despite the prime minister claiming they had been presented to parliament and the Standards Commissioner.

Again, investigations by The Shift showed this was false, as both the Speaker’s Office and the Standards Commissioner confirmed they had not received the information.

The questions about the prime minister’s assets follow a  history of dubious acquisitions and accumulated wealth.