The Shift challenges prime minister over hidden declarations of assets

The Shift has asked the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) to investigate Prime Minister Robert Abela’s refusal to publish the 2023 declarations of assets of all cabinet members following his refusal of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

In a letter to Commissioner Ian Deguara, The Shift said Abela has twice turned down a Freedom of Information request following this newsroom’s revelations about the prime minister’s decision not to make these declarations available despite a practice other prime ministers have followed for the last 30 years.

The Shift argued that because Abela failed to publish the information in the public interest and deviated from the established procedure of tabling the declarations in parliament annually, the Commissioner should decide whether the prime minister was in breach of the FOI Act. Abela also turned down a similar request by The Times of Malta.

Abela said the declarations submitted were just for his scrutiny of the Cabinet, and he alone decides whether to make them public.

Speaker Anglu Farrugia said he could not demand the prime minister to table these declarations but added that these were normally made public for transparency and scrutiny.

The Shift insists that Abela is legally and ethically wrong and should make these declarations public according to the Ministerial Code of Ethics, as the Standards Commissioner has already suggested.

Commissioner Joe Azzopardi said any reform intended in this area should not be used by the prime minister not to publish the 2023 declarations and urged him to publish them “as soon as possible”. Abela ignored him.

Who is scrutinising Abela’s declarations?

According to the Standards Commissioner’s rules, the Commissioner is responsible for checking the veracity of these declarations. Commissioner Joe Azzopardi has said he had not been given a copy.

If the prime minister’s argument stands, then no one will scrutinise Abela’s declaration of assets.

The Shift has already revealed that sources had informed the newsroom that the prime minister’s insistence on hiding the 2023 declarations was due to concerns about his personal declarations for 2021 and 2022.

In both years, Robert Abela declared that his family’s only income was from his salary as prime minister, amounting to some €65,000 a year. Yet, this does not match his lifestyle and investments.

For example, Robert Abela and his wife Lydia purchased land in Gozo that was not declared in the submissions, raising serious doubts about their veracity and whether Abela is using undeclared assets—possibly held by his wife—to pay for property acquisitions.

Abela told parliament the declarations were available to the public. Yet when The Shift asked for a copy, the Speaker’s office said it did not have them. The Standards Commissioner also said he had not been given a copy.

Abela has now confirmed this by refusing to publish the declarations.