Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela has called the serious allegations over OPM Minister Carmelo Abela a “convergence of desires” between the Opposition and criminals in Malta. This comes after at least two prominent criminals – Vince Muscat and one of the Degiorgio brothers – implicated the minister in a failed 2010 HSBC heist.

“Criminality in Malta has nothing to lose, and is currently doing all it can to obtain freedom – and the Nationalist Party has nothing to offer the country, so it’s conspiring with criminality… so that the PN can win power and the criminals can buy liberty,” Robert Abela said.

Abela’s response came as journalists asked him questions over the claims concerning Carmelo Abela, and whether he intended to do anything about it, such as asking for the minister’s resignation. However, the Prime Minister instead took aim at the people making the claims.

“If criminals want liberty, they must go in front of a judge and jury and convince them they should be freed and are not guilty, and not by trying to buy the presidential pardon at any cost,” he continued.

“However, if some evidence emerges that hasn’t emerged yet, I will make the decisions I need to as I have in the past,” Abela said.

“The time when the government’s decisions are being run by Żeppi l-Ħafis, as has happened in other administrations, with them dictating the conditions of the deal, that time has ended,” Abela said in reference to a controversial figure in Malta’s history.

“The time has ended where criminals will no longer meet with prime ministers in the middle of the night to decide on their pardon.”