Prime Minister Robert Abela has “categorically and absolutely” denied that he received any donations during a dinner he had with Gozitan contractors.

The Shift News revealed that Abela was the “guest of honour” at a dinner organised by Gozitan construction mogul Joe Portelli. The event was held a week before his mega-development in Sannat was approved by the PA.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, Abela confirmed that he had met with the contractors, “just like I meet with sections of the Gozitan business community every Saturday.”

But he categorically denied that he or any of those accompanying him had taken any donations. He also denied that he had discussed planning permits during the dinner.

Abela also refused to say who the Labour Party’s campaign manager is. He was asked whether it was true that high-ranking government officials were using their time to work on Labour’s campaign.

“All work within the government entities is continuing as per usual,” Abela replied.

Pressed to say who was managing the campaign, Abela said “several people” are working on the campaign and he cannot specify.

Replying to another question, Abela insisted that he has no personal interest in seeing the citizenship scheme continue, “but the country has an interest, because it has funded several initiatives during the pandemic, sports projects and others. I have already made my position clear. We are still in dialogue with the EC and when it was required, we suspended applications for Russian individuals.”

He was also asked to react to a Sunday news report that he purchased his Zejtun villa just three months after it was regularised by the PA. Abela denied that he had interfered in any way in the planning process and said, when he purchased the property, all the relevant permits had already been issued.

He said Bernard Grech had boasted of having had built his home with his own hands. “Now it has turned out that he had built the property illegally and when he contested for the PN leadership tried to sanction the illegalities and he was granted the permit. This is just like he did with his unpaid taxes issue."

The Malta Independent referred the PM to a Sunday interview by PN candidate and former police chief applicant Mary Muscat, who said that, post-2014, the police failed to investigate corrupt politicians. Abela was asked whether an inquiry into the claims was merited.

Abela said he had not read the interview but such allegations are “frivolous.”

“This is a country where justice does not look at faces and everyone is equal before the law.”

Pressed to say if he believes there should be an inquiry, he said he has full confidence in Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa, who was appointed after a rigorous public process.

 

PN reaction

In a statement, the PN said Abela’s comments had confirmed that he sent a drone to film Grech’s house in order to “invent” a story.

The two cases are completely different, it said.

“The case of Bernard Grech was in a development zone and involved only internal alterations and small additions. Robert Abela’s case was in an ODZ. Its permit breaches the ODZ policy, which only permits a development of 200sqm, rather than his 352sqm.”Worse still, in order to justify the decision, the case officer had compared the case to the demolition of a 400sqm structure in a case that took place some 20 years earlier.