‘Drugs? I never touched them’ says minister over Portomaso allegations

Economy minister Chris Cardona has denied ever using drugs in his lifetime, saying that he was ready to take a drug test to prove his claim.

He made the comment in an interview with newspaper Illum, saying he had always spoken up against drug use and that he had “worked hard to steer drug addicts away from their destructive paths.”

Cardona was rebutting allegations made in his regard by Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia over having patronised a Valletta bar, which bar has since filed a judicial protest threatening court action against the columnist for defamatory allegations that it was frequented by drug users.

The claims were made in relation to Cardona’s letting of a Portomaso apartment by Silvan Fenech, of the Fenech family that owns the Tumas Group. Cardona has denied having rented the apartment for free.

Cardona criticised PN deputy leader for party affairs Beppe Fenech Adami, who repeated the allegations in parliament, for “spewing rumours”.

“I was surprised about the controversy… Fenech Adami has five different properties, apart from the home he resides in. Fenech Adami hasn’t yet published the contract pertaining to his home,” Cardona said, after the minister published his Portomaso rental contract in the House of Representatives.

Cardona said he was not ashamed by his closeness to the Tumas Group, specifying that Silvan Fenech, nephew of the late George Fenech, was not a shareholder of the company.

“I’m not embarrassed by these links as I haven’t been meeting with any Tom, Dick or Harry under the bridge like Fenech Adami’s father had done,” Cardona said in a reference to Eddie Fenech Adami and his encounter with Joseph Fenech ‘il-Hafi’, who was granted a presidential pardon for his role in an attempt on the life of Fenech Adami’s personal aide, Richard Cachia Caruana.