Repubblika is shocked by reports that Roderick Galdes, the Minister responsible for social and affordable housing, has acquired a luxury penthouse from developer Joseph Portelli’s company for €140,000 — a price drastically out of line with what ordinary families are expected to pay for similar properties in today’s market.
At a time when young couples are being priced out of the housing market, and when Maltese families are being crushed under impossible loans, the Minister entrusted with protecting them appears to enjoy benefits that ordinary citizens will never have access to.
This case raises serious concerns of conflict of interest. Companies linked to the same developer have been awarded multi-million-euro public housing contracts under the Minister’s own portfolio. Whether or not the transaction was technically legal, it is unacceptable for a minister to enter into a property deal with a developer who benefits from government contracts awarded by his ministry. Public office should not be used — or be seen to be used — to secure personal advantage.
What makes this worse is the government’s ongoing refusal to publish updated declarations of assets for ministers. Secrecy breeds suspicion. Ministers are not entitled to special treatment; they are accountable to the public.
We call for:
- An immediate and independent investigation into whether preferential treatment or influence was involved in this property transaction.
- Urgent publication of full and up-to-date declarations of assets for all ministers.
- Clear and enforceable rules preventing ministers and senior officials from doing private business with individuals or companies that receive government contracts under their remit.
The housing crisis is not an abstraction — it is a daily burden on thousands of people who cannot buy or rent a decent home. Nothing is more cynical than a Minister for “Affordable Housing” using his privileged position to obtain a property deal that no ordinary citizen could ever hope for.
Malta deserves leaders who defend the public, not insiders who benefit from the system while everyone else is left behind.