From my article in The Sunday Times today:
“Being a lawyer can be lucrative but most lawyers will probably agree this level of income from providing legal services is eye-wateringly impressive.
“His parents are still alive so he hasn’t inherited. Neither has his wife, who is a year younger than him, has four other siblings and hails from a modest family.
“Since she’s only ever worked with him they can be assumed to have each contributed half of what they own together.
“If they’re worth €3.5 million now, every year for 18 years they would have had to put away €100,000 each after tax and living expenses. That’s €16,000 a month.
“Now that’s hard to understand given what we know of his income.
“His 2017 tax return says he invoiced €122,000 against €87,000 in expenses. At the end of the year he was only left with €36,000. Add to that €12,000 he earned as MP.
“His wife did better, earning €146,000. The Abela family then were left with a monthly net income of €11,500.
“You can live comfortably with that but you can’t save €16,000 from an income of €11,500.”