Chris Cardona publishes Portomaso flat contract

Economy Minister Chris Cardona this evening published a scanned copy of the contract showing that a one-bedroom apartment he has at Portomaso is rented at €1,400 per month.

The contract was signed on 1 December 2014 and the duration of the lease is for a period of 10 months. The agreement was entered into between Cardona as the lessee and Silvan Fenech as the lessor.

Cardona was reacting to questions raised by PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami who questioned whether Cardona was currently living free of charge in the luxurious apartment building.

“Fenech Adami availed himself of parliamentary immunity to repeat in parliament incorrect information published by blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, who is directly associated with the Nationalist Party,” the economy ministry said in a statement.

Fenech Adami also said in parliament that Fenech’s family was one of the main shareholders in Electrogas, the consortium selected to build the gas-fired power plant. This was also denied by Cardona.

“[Fenech] is not part of the consortium. The Opposition is once again repeating accusations and associating itself with a blogger known for her mud-slinging and poison-pen blogs. This goes against the recommendations of the PN’s own electoral loss analysis which found people were unhappy over her association with the party.”

The ministry said the Opposition should take responsibility for its actions and withdraw the slanderous allegations and disassociate itself from Caruana Galizia.