Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1497950
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 APRIL 2023 2 MATTHEW VELLA PRIME Minister Robert Abela has declared total cash holdings of €388,500 in his annual dec- laration of assets, submitted on Monday evening to the House of Representatives. The asset declarations cover the first year of the Abela ad- ministration since its re-elec- tion to power in March 2022. Not all MPs declared their spouses' income. The Labour leader, a lawyer by profession, declared his only income as his prime minister's salary, which is a Scale 1 civil service apart from other allow- ances, and no loans payable. Abela also owns a property in Zejtun and one in Xewkija, Gozo and an apartment and garage in Marsaskala. He owns equity in HSBC Malta, and bonds in Hili Properties, the group currently involved in an upscale hotel redevelopment on Comino island. Abela also has €25,000 in government bonds. Deputy prime minister Chris Fearne declared a €65,000 salary, and cash holdings of €123,000 apart from his wife's €153,000 in bank deposits. He also declared €20,000 in gov- ernment bonds, €25,000 in APS bonds, €41,000 in a BOV Life- link holding, and jointly with his spouse €320,000 in a Lom- bard Bank investment account. His properties are his Tarxien home and a farmhouse in Bir id-Deheb. Main earners for 2022 includ- ed the new minister for justice Jonathan Attard, who apart from his ministerial salary also declared professional revenues from his legal firm. His total in- come in 2022 was €130,000. He also had loans of over €750,000 on two, jointly-owned proper- ties in Mellieħa. The Gozo eye-surgeon Jo Etienne Abela, minister for ac- tive ageing, also earned €60,000 from his private practice – which he was granted dispensa- tion to continue for some of his patients – a €6,400 lectureship, and €66,000 as both a ministe- rial salary and as a Mater Dei consultant from January to March 2022. He also holds over €279,000 in bank deposits. Unlike his Cabinet colleagues, Abela does not own a property – he rents a Tower Road apart- ment in Sliema and is free of debt save for a £2,500 debt on his Visa UK Gold card. Parliamentary secretary Andy Ellul also declared over €44,000 in professional fees in 2022, apart from his €3,000 honoraria as MP and Whip, and €48,000 for his ministerial salary. He has €71,000 in loans, and €147,000 in bank deposits. Parliamentary secretary Chris Bonnett declared owning no property – and neither sug- gesting a rental – no stocks or bonds, apart from €32,000 in a BOV account and CHF3,400 in a UBS pension fund, and no loans. He earned €64,000 in ministerial income. Environment minister Miriam Dalli held a total of €444,000 in banking deposits and no loans. Social solidarity minister Mi- chael Falzon declared owning a 2,000sq.m plot of land in Baħri- ja, equity in BOV and Middle- sea Insurance, over €480,000 and £128,000 in bank deposits at BOV, and no loans. Parliamentary secretary Alison Zerafa Civelli, Robert Abela's sister-in-law, reporting loans of €203,000 for her Kalkara resi- dence and a Xagħra apartment in Gozo, and €143,000 in bank deposits apart from her €57,000 government salary. Property and stock owners Names whose incomes or debts are closely tied to prop- erty include Gozitan ministers Anton Refalo and Clint Camill- eri, and foreign minister Ian Borg. Borg had over €541,000 in loans for five properties in Dingli, Rabat, and two tumoli of agricultural land he acquired over the years 2014, 2015 and 2019. He earned €6,000 in rent- als on a Dingli apartment he inherited by donation from his parents. In 2022 he also ac- quired ac commercial premises on Misraħ Frenċ Abela in Ding- li. He earned €65,000 as a minis- terial salary and held €23,000 in bank deposits. Minster for agriculture An- ton Refalo declared nothing less than 23 properties in Gozo – their value not quantified – with over €437,000 in loans. His bank deposits are only €15,900 but the Refalo couple jointly declared earning €180,000 in 2022, with- out specifying individual salaries or any rental income. Gozo minister Clint Camilleri earned €22,000 in rental income in 2022, which includes minis- cule shares in some 16 prop- erties and agricultural land he inherited from his father; land he inherited by donation from his mother; his apartment, and other lands. He declared having 20 shares in the Chinese retail giant Alibaba, apart from other stock, 7,000 units in govern- ment bonds – he received €617 in dividends as well as €2,360 in feed-in tariffs. Apart from his €65,000 minis- terial salary, his total bank de- posits are over €200,000 while his bank loans total €521,000. Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi de- clared a host of equities he held in BOV, APS Bank, Global Cap- ital, Mapfre, Loqus, and CIP Limited, and Malta Govern- ment Stocks. Together with his wife, the Zrinzo Azzopardi cou- ple declared €191,000 in joint savings, and €41,000 in debt guarantees for CIP Limited. Other ministers Home affairs minister By- ron Camilleri declared over €130,000 in bank deposits, with Cabinet ministers' assets tabled in Parliament Prime Minister Robert Abela presiding the first meeting of the Cabinet after the election of 2022 Asset declarations of Cabinet of ministers in Abela administration show scale of property and stock holdings, bank deposits and earnings in 2022 Robert Abela, a lawyer by profession, declared his only income as his prime minister's salary, which is a Scale 1 civil service apart from other allowances, and no loans payable Deputy Prime minister Chris Fearne declared a €65,000 salary, and cash holdings of €123,000 apart from his wife's €153,000 in bank deposits