Prime Minister hints that someone paid opposition leader's overdue taxes

Prime Minister Robert Abela has hinted that someone had handed out money to PN leader Bernard Grech in order for him to pay his overdue taxes, and that even then, Grech did not pay all that was due.

In a fiery speech in Gozo on Sunday, Abela lashed out at Grech, asking, “Who put the money in your bank account to pay the tax that you evaded for years?” He further questioned whether Grech paid the full €60,000 he owed in income tax and VAT, challenging him to publish the receipt. 

Abela further attacked PN MPs who “use the opposition seat to abuse their position and intimidate their superiors” into letting them not go to work. He specifically called out PN MP Toni Bezzina for not showing up to work for years so that he can focus on his private profession. 

While refraining from naming others, Abela said that he is not the only PN MP to do such a thing.

The Prime Minister reflected on other episodes of bad governance, this time focusing on former minister Clayton Bartolo, who was forced to resign earlier this week over yet another scandal. The resignation came after his wife, Amanda Muscat is suspected to have received tens of thousands of euros from a private firm suspected to be a kickback related to a Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) contract.

Abela said that Bartolo’s resignation stems from the belief that the electorate’s trust cannot be betrayed. “These decisions, when needed, must be made.”

Meanwhile, Abela further spoke of “a trap” laid out by the PN. He said that after meeting the PN’s administration over coffee, Grech went to report  Abela and “implicated him in someone’s death.” The Prime Minister gave no other details, other than the fact that he was summoned to testify by the police’s homicide squad.

Sunday’s political activity also saw the presence of a familiar face within the Labour Party, as Abela made reference to former education minister Justyne Caruana who was standing in the back of the crowd.

Former education minister Justyne Caruana was present in the PL's Sunday activity

“I still believe that Gozo and Malta still need your contribution,” Abela told her.

This part of the Prime Minister’s speech appeared to have been leaked to PN MP Alex Borg, who took to Facebook before the activity to say that Abela “will try to piece together a jigsaw puzzle. He will find one of the pieces in the puzzle this morning, after he himself had thrown her away.”

Earlier this year, Abela had reached out to Justyne Caruana in an attempt to rehabilitate the former minister who resigned after a damning ethics probe in December 2021.