Show us the cashed cheques and the receipts, not the ‘contract’

In a severely delayed reaction, Minister for the Economy Chris Cardona has issued a deceitful statement tonight in which he says that he will publish the rental contract for the Portomaso flat in which he is staying (after being asked to leave the marital home).

He says that he is paying 1,400 euros a month for it, and that the contract came into force on 1 December 2014 and ends on 1 October this year.

If this were the case, the contract would have been published immediately my original blog-post went live yesterday and the Minister for the Economy would have responded in parliament tonight rather than staying silent (except to threaten the Opposition leader) while the prime minister responded on his behalf with no answer at all.

You can assume that the contract is being drawn up as we speak and backdated. You can also assume that following parliament and the ensuing newspaper coverage, there was a massive scene between the prime minister and Cardona of the “ara x’se taghmel biex tohrog minnha ghax b’rasek idur” variety.

The Minister for the Economy also said that his ‘landlord’ is not part of Electrogas Malta Ltd.

His ‘landlord’, however, is Silvan Fenech of the Tumas Group. To claim that he has nothing to do with Electrogas Malta because it is his cousin who sits on the Electrogas Malta board in representation of the Fenechs’ interests, and not him, is offensive.

I had a straight-to-point exchange with the Minister for the Economy in the Stable bar some days ago about this precise subject, and asked him point-blank whether it is true he staying in a Portomaso flat lent to him by Silvan Fenech (who was with him at the bar at the time) after he was asked to leave the marital home, and he did not deny it. I asked him again, and the same thing happened. He tried to change the subject.

The Minister for the Economy should tell us how long he has been living in the flat – the fact that the contract he speaks of is dated 1 December means nothing – and why he is living there.

His statement made no mention of the equally serious fact that he spends most late afternoons and evenings at the seedy Stable bar in Sappers Street, in the company of heavy types.