[WATCH] Carmelo Abela accuses Jason Azzopardi of ‘being in bed’ with criminals

Xtra on TVM | Minister Carmelo Abela has flatly denied any involvement in a 2010 bank robbery, accusing Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi of being ‘in bed with criminals’

OPM Minister Carmelo Abela has firmly denied any involvement in the 2010 HSBC heist
OPM Minister Carmelo Abela has firmly denied any involvement in the 2010 HSBC heist

Labour minister Carmelo Abela has firmly denied ever knowing the criminals alleging he was involved in the failed HSBC bank heist 11 years ago.

“I have denied, I deny and will continue to deny the allegations. I learnt who these criminals are from the media. I never spoke to them, I don’t know them, I do not recognise them and never was present in a place where they were. I simply don’t know these people,” the minister within the Office of the Prime Minister said on TVM’s Xtra.

He also accused Nationalist Party MP Jason Azzopardi, who publicly implicated Abela in the attempted robbery, of being “a danger to politics” and “in bed with criminals”.

Abela was a manager at HSBC in 2010 when armed men entered the bank’s headquarters in Qormi after overpowering security. The heist was not successful after police on patrol got suspicious when they spotted the getaway car outside the bank.

The robbers got involved in a shoot-out with police and managed to escape. Three men have been charged and are awaiting trial, including Vince Muscat, known as il-Koħħu.

READ ALSO: A failed bank heist, Chris Cardona and an inside job

Muscat admitted guilt in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder last February and was sentenced to 15 years in jail after a plea bargain agreement.

He has hinted that he knows of a sitting minister who was involved in the heist. The claim has also been made by Alfred and George Degiorgio in a request for pardon that was turned down by Cabinet.

Azzopardi ‘in bed with criminals’

Abela’s name was floated by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi in a Facebook post a fortnight ago.

Azzopardi claimed that the minister had been offered €300,000 for information on access cards and internal footage of the bank. Abela has sued Azzopardi for libel.

On Xtra, Abela said that he has never been spoken to by the police over the case and accused the PN MP of being “in bed with criminals”.

“These are false and frivolous allegations. Jason Azzopardi represents the interests of the Daphne Caruana Galizia family but he is also in bed with criminals… we do not know on whose side he is and he is a danger to politics,” Abela insisted.

Asked whether at the time of the heist he had access to the bank vaults, Abela said that every bank has security protocols that ensure access to certain areas depends on the person’s job.

“I did not have access to the area that was targeted in the theft,” he said. “It is the police’s job to determine who had access or not. But since 2010 the police have never asked me even as much as basic questions about the case,” he said.

Abela refused any suggestion to resign over the matter. “These are frivolous allegations made in agreement with criminals. Should politicians simply resign because Jason Azzopardi shoots from the hip,” he said, denying again any involvement in the case.

Cabinet withdrawal

Earlier this week Abela withdrew from a Cabinet meeting that evaluated presidential pardon requests made by the Degiorgio brothers and Muscat, given the allegations made in his regard. Cabinet turned down the pardon requests following advice given by the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General.

Abela said he had no reason to recuse himself from Cabinet but did so in the best interest of government. “This is all calumny invented by Jason Azzopardi with the help of criminals. However, I also filed libel proceedings against Jason Azzopardi to defend myself. If I did not withdraw, the criticism now would be directed at Cabinet… I did not want this to happen,” he said.

Ethics probe

Abela was also asked about the recent findings of Standards Commissioner George Hyzler, who said that a ministerial advert taken out last year was self-promotion.

The minister said that there were no guidelines on the matter and in the aftermath of Hyzler’s report the Prime Minister has pledged that new rules on advertising will be drawn up.

“This government believes in standards, so much so that it created the Standards Commissioner,” Abela said.

A newspaper advert taken out by George Hyzler when he was parliamentary secretary several years ago, which Carmelo Abela referred to while hitting out at the Standards Commissioner
A newspaper advert taken out by George Hyzler when he was parliamentary secretary several years ago, which Carmelo Abela referred to while hitting out at the Standards Commissioner

He then hit out at Hyzler, a former Nationalist parliamentary secretary, insisting that as a politician he had taken out adverts that did not distinguish between his role as parliamentary secretary and politician.

“He [Hyzler] may have seen the light on the road to Damascus,” Abela said, adding he will wait for the parliamentary process to conclude before speaking further about the case.

READ ALSO: ‘I will no longer accept half-truths from MPs’, George Hyzler tells ethics committee