Tumas Group chair and CEO Ray Fenech said he never received a silver gift that PN MP Jason Azzopardi allegedly purchased to cancel out his perceived debt towards the businessman for giving him a free holiday at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv. 

Fenech told Lovin Malta that he never received this gift, which Azzopardi allegedly left for him at Portomaso. 

Confronted with Fenech’s statement, Azzopardi said he stands by what he originally said but doesn’t have any evidence to prove he had purchased this gift.

“As you may imagine I would never have imagined in 2017 at the time that that purchase would ever be relevant,” he said. “I would assume that I was given a receipt but would not imagine it was kept or where – a matter of relevance since I have since changed address.”

Azzopardi spent three nights at the hotel in March 2017, with Fenech footing the bill. The MP said that, upon his return, he bought a silver gift from a silver shop and left it for Fenech, along with a thank you note, at a receptionist in Portomaso to ensure he would have no obligations towards the businessman. 

Azzopardi suspended himself from the PN’s parliamentary group shortly after Illum revealed this stay, pending an investigation by the party’s Ethics, Disciplinary and Social Media Commission.

In its final report, the Commission said the party’s administrative council should “unequivocally reprimand” Azzopardi for breaching of the party’s Code of Ethics, which forbids politicians from accepting gifts on the grounds that it could create a perception of them being in debt towards the donee. 

However, it said that in this case, the Hilton Tel Aviv gift didn’t influence Azzopardi in the fulfilment of his role, “including the cause he has taken up with vigour, even at the risk of his personal safety, against the institutionalisation of criminality and corruption, even when the targets of his criticism were and still are members of the Tumas Group”.

Have you ever stayed at a Tumas Group hotel for free? Comment below