Ivan Bartolo, Shadow Minister for Social and Affordable Housing, has highlighted a Sunday Times story which reveals that earlier this year the Minister for Housing Roderick Galdes “signed a contract to purchase a duplex penthouse in Gozo for €140,000 – ironically in the same week that fresh research showed that similar properties today cost around €555,000, meaning four times as much.”

In a statement, Bartolo noted that “it is striking that, in the same week a property market study showed how it has become practically impossible for young families and first-time buyers to keep up with ever-rising housing prices, the Sunday Times of Malta revealed how Minister Roderick Galdes purchased a duplex penthouse for €140,000 – a price far below what ordinary people are being forced to pay for their first home.”

The PN Spokesperson went on to say that according to the KPMG and Malta Development Association study released earlier this week, the average price of an apartment today stands at €414,000 – an increase of around €40,000 in just one year. The same study found that the average penthouse price has risen to €555,000.

He added that, “according to the Sunday Times report, Roderick Galdes purchased his penthouse in Victoria, Gozo – complete with a garage, airspace and even a rooftop jacuzzi – for €400,000 less, claiming he secured the low price because it was in shell form and also because he booked the property before construction began in 2021, even though the contract was only signed this year. The property was purchased from a well-known construction company.”

Bartolo argued that this means “Galdes managed to secure an extraordinarily favourable deal, buying the property for a quarter of the market rate of similar homes today.” A true example of “affordable housing for the Minister responsible for housing.”

He stressed that “he same Sunday Times story reveals that this is the second property Roderick Galdes owns in Gozo – he also owns a house in Xaghra, in addition to other properties in Qormi, Luqa, and an apartment in Middlesex in the United Kingdom. This is over and above land and a house in Sicily, and another property in Siggiewi.”

The Shadow Minister also pointed out the Roderick Galdes is currently under investigation by the Auditor General after the Nationalist Party formally requested the National Audit Office to examine allegations of political interference by the Minister within Malita Investments. These allegations were made by former Labour MEP and former Chairperson of Malita Investments, Marlene Mizzi.

The PN noted that “in addition to political interference, Mizzi also alleged that the Housing Minister was favouring certain contractors linked to the company. She stated she was removed from her post after raising these concerns with the Minister.”

This led members of the Opposition on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), together with the Shadow Minister for the sector, to file a formal request for the Auditor General to investigate both these allegations and the company’s operations, said the PN Spokesperson

He stated that “in light of today’s revelations by the Sunday Times of Malta, the Nationalist Party asks whether Prime Minister Robert Abela intends to take any action whatsoever against Roderick Galdes. It also calls on Robert Abela to publicly declare whether such conduct by a senior member of his Cabinet is acceptable to him.”

Bartolo concluded by saying that, “above all, Robert Abela must explain to young people and first-time buyers in Malta why they are having to work day and night to buy their first home, take on heavy bank loans and rely on parental assistance just to have a chance of becoming homeowners – and why, even then, they are paying prices far higher than the extraordinarily advantageous amount paid by Minister Roderick Galdes.”

On Sunday morning, Momentum Leader Arnold Cassola submitted a formal letter to the Standards Commissioner regarding a “potential ethical breach.”

It said that Galdes purchased a penthouse for €140,000 from Joseph Portelli. Then in the same year, a multi-million euro housing contract was awarded to Portelli.

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