Robert Abela says he reported Bernard Grech’s tax evasion after PN source leaked information

Robert Abela is denying that he discussed Opposition leader Bernard Grech’s tax issues with the Tax Commissioner last September, insisting he had only reported the wrongdoing.

The Prime Minister said this evening that he had received information from a source within the Nationalist Party that Grech had a history of unpaid taxes.

“I did not discuss Bernard Grech’s tax issues… I received information from a source within the PN that Bernard Grech had not paid his taxes for many years and I passed it on to [Tax Commissioner] Marvin Gaerty,” Abela said.

He insisted it was his duty to pass on the information he received. “It is my duty to report wrongdoing,” Abela said, adding he could not understand how Grech’s tax evasion was being overlooked.

He was speaking after laying a wreath at the foot of the monument in remembrance of Karin Grech, who was murdered by a parcel bomb 43 years ago.

The issue was sparked by a story that appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta that reported how Gaerty’s mobile phone could contain a compromising exchange between the tax chief and Abela on Grech’s tax issues.

Gaerty was last week interrogated by the police in connection with an exchange he had with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech in 2014 over a tax issue involving the latter’s companies.

The Tax Commissioner was released on police bail.

However, the Times of Malta reported yesterday that Gaerty refused to give police access to his phone, insisting he first had to get authorisation from the Prime Minister, in line with tax law.

The police today denied they needed the Prime Minister’s permission to take and analyse any equipment. The investigation into the Fenech exchange with Gaerty is ongoing and a magisterial inquiry is also active.

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