Abela refuses to explain financing of ongoing hotel and ODZ mansion developments

Prime Minister Robert Abela has refused to explain how he and his wife, Lydia, are financing two simultaneous high-end private construction projects – a boutique hotel conversion in Xewkija and a luxury ODZ mansion in Żejtun – on his officially declared income, despite the massive outlay required for such projects.

Questions sent by The Shift asking the prime minister to explain how the projects are being financed, whether the couple took any bank loans, and whether any third parties are involved in funding the developments remained unanswered.

A review of Abela’s latest published declarations of assets, which he has since stopped, shows no registered loans linked to the couple.

Visits by The Shift to both Xewkija and Żejtun confirm that works on the two projects are ongoing and at an advanced stage, with contractors operating simultaneously on the Gozo hotel project and the Żejtun mansion redevelopment.

The silence from the prime minister comes amid years of controversy surrounding the couple’s property acquisitions, unexplained discrepancies in Abela’s published asset declarations, and his government’s continued rollback of transparency obligations related to ministers’ finances.

Rather than increasing transparency, Abela has, in recent years, moved in the opposite direction.

His administration stopped following the decades-old practice of publishing ministers’ declarations of assets and interests in full in parliament, limiting scrutiny over ministers’ wealth, investments and business interests.

At the same time, his government also proposed legislative changes, weakening disclosure obligations affecting spouses of cabinet members, changes which would further shield the financial interests of ministers’ family members from public scrutiny.

The rollback of transparency rules comes as questions continue to mount over the financing of the Abelas’ growing property empire.

Luxury ODZ mansion in Żejtun

In Żejtun, Abela and his wife are rebuilding a sprawling ODZ villa spread over roughly two tumoli of land at Villa Ċinja, a property purchased in 2017 for a declared €600,000.

The acquisition itself had already sparked controversy after it emerged that longstanding planning illegalities on the site had been sanctioned by the Planning Authority just days before the final deed was signed.

At the time, Abela was head lawyer at the Planning Authority on a monthly retainer exceeding €17,000.

The old structure has since been demolished by Faceworks, a company within the Famalco Group, which has itself faced criticism over its long-term occupation of a substantial government-owned site in Attard used for logistics operations.

Despite years of controversy surrounding the Attard operation, no direct enforcement action was ever taken against the company.

The reconstruction of the Żejtun mansion, which includes a large luxury residence spread over two floors, extensive landscaped gardens and a substantial swimming pool, has now reached an advanced stage.

Construction works are being carried out by Elbros, owned by Charles Ellul, a contractor who has received several government direct orders in recent years. Among them is a controversial €7 million direct order issued by Infrastructure Malta for the Hal Far quarter-mile drag-racing project. The procurement of this contract has never been explained fully.

The same direct order is now subject to scrutiny by the National Audit Office.

Industry sources told The Shift that works of this scale alone are likely to cost several hundreds of thousands of euro.

Hotel project in Xewkija

At the same time, intensive works are also underway at the Abelas’ Xewkija farmhouse in Gozo, originally purchased in 2010 and left largely unused for years before plans were submitted to convert the property into a boutique hotel.

The development has since evolved into a 22-guest hotel complex featuring multiple guest suites, spa facilities, landscaped gardens, pools and expanded entertainment areas.

To facilitate the expansion, the prime minister and his wife spent an additional €315,000 acquiring two adjoining parcels of land in 2022 and 2023.

Those purchases later became controversial after questions were raised about why the acquisitions were not clearly reflected in Abela’s ministerial asset declarations. At the same time, Abela’s declared bank deposits appeared to increase despite the substantial expenditure required for the purchases, a discrepancy the prime minister has repeatedly failed to explain.

Works at the Xewkija hotel are also at an advanced stage and are being carried out by Vella Brothers Readymix Ltd, better known in Gozo as “tal-Malla”.

Contractors linked to illegal ODZ settlement

The contractors involved in the Xewkija hotel project are themselves at the centre of another major planning controversy.

The Vella family owns extensive illegal development in the Tal-Gorġun area of Xewkija, including residences, pools, garages, agricultural structures and a concrete batching plant, all developed on ODZ land over many years.

Planning Authority attempts to sanction parts of the settlement faced resistance.

Yet in recent weeks, Abela’s government moved to revise the Gozo and Comino Local Plan in an unprecedented manner, redesignating the Tal-Gorġun area from ODZ to a “rural settlement”.

The change effectively regularises the contractors’ extensive holdings while dramatically increasing the value of their properties.

The local plan revision also benefits other landowners associated with Abela’s Xewkija expansion, including the family that sold the prime minister a key access plot required for the hotel project.