PN blasts government over MP’s consultancy fees

The Nationalist Party has once again taken a dig at the consultancy work carried out by PL MP Robert Abela.

Information tabled in Parliament a few weeks ago showed that the legal firm belonging to Abela and his wife Lydia was paid more than €500,000 by two government entities since March 2013.

Lydia Abela is the Labour Party’s Executive Secretary.

In the first eight months of this year alone, the firm was paid €110,633 by the Planning Authority. The PA also paid the firm €36,883 in the period August-December 2013, €88,520 in 2014, €110,543 in 2015 and €168,598 in 2016.

The firm was also paid €14,000 by Transport Malta for legal work related to the Sa Maison marina contract.

The information was re-confirmed through new parliamentary questions this week. These were filed by PN MP Jason Azzopardi. Robert Abela has been holding press conferences, along with Parliamentary Secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli, on the controversial Spinola property sale. The transfer took place when Azzopardi was minister for lands.

This week Azzopardi also asked whether Abela had been given any consultancy work by Enemalta but the government said it could not provide the requested information, citing commercial sensitivity.

In a statement today the PN said the government’s surplus was not reaching everyone, but it was “certainly reaching Robert Abela.”

Pointing out that Abela also attends cabinet meetings, the PN said the government had come up with excuses so that the truth about the consultancies given to the PL MP remained hidden. This was truly a government of double standards, the PL said.