Kevin Deguara – I bet everyone’s forgotten that he’s the Economy Minister’s boy

Ooops, sorry – this was meant to be a picture of Chris Cardona

I’m watching Kevin Deguara on Xarabank – he’s advocating (literally) for Hani Hasan Naji Al Salah. And I’m thinking, what short memories people have – or maybe I just clock lawyers because I happen to be married to one.

Kevin Deguara and his law partner Jean Farrugia were at the centre of one of the very first scandals of the incoming Labour government. In July 2013, the head of the government’s Privatisation Unit, Emmanuel Ellul, resigned in protest when Economy Minister Chris Cardona intervened in a tender adjudication process and over-ruled the adjudication board, so as to award the tender to Kevin Deguara and Jean Farrugia.

The tender was for the provision of legal services for support to the Economy Ministry in preparation for the granting of two new casino licences.

Those licences were then in themselves the subject of another controversy.

I will have to point out that Chris Cardona, is still the Economy Minister and he was the one who signed that contract with Hani Hasan Naji Al Salah on behalf of the government.

And that means that Kevin Deguara is working for both parties and it doesn’t take much imagination to work out that Chris Cardona put him onto Hani Hasan Naji Al Salah so that they can carry on getting the whole thing neatly stitched up while Deguara creams off as much as he can in professional fees from the Jordanian.