When Adrian Delia had announced he would be contesting the PN leadership contest after Simon Busuttil said he would be stepping down both as Nationalist Party and Opposition leader, it emerged that he had not been paying income tax for a number of years and owed about €80,000 to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

When Delia started being attacked mercilessly about his failure to pay income tax and facing other accusations levelled at him by none other than Daphne Caruana Galizia, he had promised he would be making arrangements to clear this very heavy financial burden, by the end of 2017, by selling shares he owned in various companies, especially in a particular real estate development company. This seems to have placated many PN members who were the ones who would be deciding, through their vote, who would take over the party leadership.

Delia won the contest and also became Opposition leader when Jean-Pierre Debono gave up his parliamentary seat.

A few days before 2017 ended, questions were raised on whether Delia had kept his promise to clear his debt by the year’s end. Even the Times of Malta asked him about this. What results is that he has only proposed to the Inland Revenue Commissioner an arrangement whereby he would settle his dues over a number of years, instead of by the end of 2017, as he had promised PN members.

His spokesman was reported saying that what Delia proposed is similar to other arrangements with other taxpayers. The big difference is that Delia is the leader of the PN and of the Opposition and had solemnly promised to settle his dues within a few months not years. He had thus managed to beat his rivals in the PN leadership race. I can just imagine what Caruana Galizia would have told Delia had she still been living instead of murdered in such a horrific manner.