Prime Minister Robert Abela’s involvement in a contract with the Planning Authority which enabled his law firm to receive €7,300 per month in 2013, had doubled to €17,110 in 2019, over a period of six years, the PN said.
“This effectively proves that the Prime Minister does not understand the struggles the Maltese people are facing due to the inflation in living costs,” PN candidate Jerome Caruana Cilia said in a press conference on Monday.
The Times of Malta reported that a Planning Authority (PA) retainer for Robert Abela’s law firm more than doubled from €7,300 per month in 2013 to €17,110 in 2019.
Abela Advocates was paid over €1.2 million in that period for work which is now largely managed in-house by a lawyer from the PA, said Caruana Cilia.
He mentioned the “hypocrisy” in the words of a spokesperson for Abela, who defended the Prime Minister by saying that employees at the firm suffered long hours of work, extending as well to the weekends.
“Whilst you dedicate your time and strive to work solely to catch up with your daily needs and see the end of the month coming, Abela was receiving (back then) €17,000 in just one month – the sum of two minimum salaries in a year,” Caruana Cilia said.
Moreover, this is just one contract of many, as Abela served as a consultant for several entities such as ARMS, Air Malta, and the PA, including also for former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, said Caruana Cilia.
Caruana Cilia also spoke about a statistic put forth by the Minister for Finance Clyde Caruana, where in-work poverty rates climbed from 5.2% in 2012 to 7.4% in 2020, with the biggest year-to-year increase witnessed in 2020. “These people are at a risk of poverty, yet the Prime Minister cannot fathom their struggles as he lives in luxury,” he remarked.
Essential day-to-day products have also increased by up to 60%, Caruana Cilia said.
“The PN in government offers a new hope, where it will put a stop to the squandering of the taxpayer’s money and ensure an economy which prioritizes small businesses,” he said.
PN candidate Charles Azzopardi said that the Labour party is no longer a party focusing on the worker, but is polarizing the rich and the poor. “The current PL is a party which only thinks for itself,” he emphasized.
Azzopardi challenged Abela to respond to the questions: “Has the Prime Minister declared everything throughout these past nine years? Has he used his position and power for his own personal gain?”
PL reaction
Reacting, the Labour Party said the Opposition Leader who failed to pay tax before he entered politics was criticising lawyers who got paid for work they had done.
“In order to attack the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader had to turn to a contract issued in 2001, by a Nationalist administration.”
The PN said the PN wants to base its campaigns on deceipt. “This is what those who are in a panic, and those who are not credible resort to,” it said.