David Thake reports himself to Standards Commissioner, PN defends its MP

Nationalist MP David Thake has reported himself to the Standards Commissioner after reports came out of unpaid VAT owed by his telecoms company.

Thake has formally written to the Commissioner for Standards requesting an investigation into the reports to identify whether he breached ethical standards at any point.

The Times of Malta reported that Thake’s company Vanilla Telecoms Ltd must pay €270,440 in pending VAT, interest and penalties

In a statement, the Nationalist Party argued that the current Labour government has long allowed for deferred tax payments so as to give breathing room to struggling companies recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The party also referred to Labour MP Ian Castaldi Paris, who declared that he will not contest the next general election following reports that he must pay around €300,000 to the tax authorities.

“Robert Abela wants his Labour MP to evade any consequences of investigation after the tax authorities found €1 million in unexplained wealth.”

“Here we have a case of another Nationalist MP who is being mistakenly accused by the police. He was accused of not paying tax when in fact he paid it, so much so that the charges against him were dropped.”

“For him to be considered credible, Robert Abela should publish his 2016 income, something which he is yet to do. Maybe he should also make sure that his properties and yachts are declared properly.”