‘Nationalist, political spin’: Robert Abela says media reports on him will not distract his work

Robert Abela said new media reports on him and his law firm are political spin from “the Nationalist Party and its allies”. 

During a political activity on Sunday, Abela claimed that the Opposition and its ‘sympathisers’ were trying to invent stories against him and the Labour Party.  

“They plant doubt and twist the truth. They don’t mind lying, so much so that they print these lies on billboards,” Abela said. 

He briefly alluded to the news story on a €17,000 per month retainer handed by government to Abela’s law firm, but made no reference to a Times of Malta story published Sunday on his connections to alleged criminal Christian Borg.  

“I responded to these allegations, and I will continue to do so. I even gave information on my own initiative for the sake of transparency,” Abela said. 

At the same event, Abela lambasted Bernard Grech for being inconsistent as party leader. “He keeps trying to please everyone – this is the worst thing you can do in politics.” 

Abela mentioned recent reforms on cannabis legislation and pointed out that the Opposition leader had threatened to change the law if elected into government. 

“Yet a few days before the parliamentary debate, the PN said we stole their proposals,” Abela remarked.  

The Prime Minister went on to defend wholeheartedly Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme, adding that Bernard Grech has conflicting opinions on this issue too.  

“Sometimes he says that he will keep the scheme, other times he says he won’t. There’s only reason why he does this – he's never sure whether those pulling the strings in the PN will get angry at him.” 

“This is a scheme that put millions, even hundreds of millions, in Maltese coffers to be used for culture, sports, health, and the pandemic. Yet even here, the Opposition is two minds on the issue depending who he’s talking with.” 

Abela added that he had invited Bernard Grech to discuss the appointment of a new regulator for the scheme, as is procedure when the person’s tenure comes to a close. 

“He responded back saying he didn’t want to participate in the appointment. He wrote this, on black and white, and said that this scheme does harm to our country.”