The investigation that the police is conducting into Minister Carmelo Abela’s alleged involvement in the failed HSBC heist renders his position in the government untenable, and therefore he should "either resign or be kicked out", the PN said in a press conference.
The Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister was accused by PN MP Jason Azzopardi of being involved in the 2010 HSBC heist, which in exchange would have seen Abela earn €300,000 from the would-be robbers, Azzopardi claimed.
Abela has vehemently denied such claims, and filed a libel case against Jason Azzopardi. The first court session on the case was held today.
Recently, Times of Malta revealed that Abela had testified in court back in 2011 regarding the case. Abela said that he cannot remember the testimony he had given.
“The PN’s stance is clear. His position is not tenable. He lied when he said that the police didn’t speak to him and that he doesn’t remember the police speaking to him,” PN representative Mark Anthony Sammut said. “No one out there believes that he has forgotten.”
Sammut said that these accusations have been coming out even from recent testimonies in court, such as that of Alfred Degiorgio, one of the men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia.
PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami said that this is not a common occurrence in the world, where “you have a minister which has these types of accusations against him, and he stays on as minister.”
Fenech Adami asked whether former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had known about the case when Carmelo Abela had been appointed minister, or at least whether Abela had informed him. Furthermore, Fenech Adami asked whether Abela had told the current Prime Minister, Robert Abela, about the case, and if the PM did know, if he was comfortable letting him in.
Due to this, the PN representatives questioned the PM's inaction in this case, as he is using “two weights, two measures,” Fenech Adami said.
“These last few weeks, he was going out of his way to defend Carmelo Abela […] Robert Abela forced Justyne Caruana to resign. The PM removed Rosianne Cutajar. However, he is using a different measure with Carmelo Abela,” Fenech Adami remarked.
Asked by this newsroom what the PN proposes to do legally in order that when such accusations are put up against ministers, Fenech Adami said in these circumstances ministers should resign or be suspended.
“I think we have come to a point where in this country we need to have standards that every political party has to adopt. This is a country which we need to ameliorate,“ Fenech Adami said.
"It is inconceivable in the world and the European Union that you have a Minister in Government who is being investigated regarding a hold-up in one of the main banks of Malta and he held his place as minister – irrespective if it is true or not.”