Christian Cardona (born 1972) is a Maltese former politician and lawyer. He was a Member of Parliament for the Maltese Labour Party and was elected Deputy Leader for Party Affairs in 2016. He served as Malta's Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business between 2013 and 2020.

Biography

Cardona was born in 1972 and graduated as Notary Public and Doctor of Laws from the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

. He furthered his studies in international maritime law at the United Nations' International Maritime Organization where he obtained a first Class master's degree in

shipping law Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

. Cardona is the author of the thesis entitled ''United Nations Commission on International Trade Law – A Maltese Perspective''. He was first elected to Parliament in 1996 and was re-elected in the 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013 general elections. In 2008, he contested the post of Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs of the Labour Party. In 2013, he has been elected by the Labour Party's delegates as Deputy Leader for Party Affairs. During the 2008 – 2013 legislature he served as the Labour Party main Spokesperson for the Industry, Self Employed and Foreign Investment. In previous legislatures he served as the Labour Party Spokesperson for Competition, Communication and IT. Cardona also served as a member in the Malta EU Parliamentary Committee during the negotiation process of Malta’s application to join the European Union as a full member. Prior to his appointment as Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Cardona was a senior partner at law firm CV Advocates. On 11 June 2016, Cardona won the deputy leadership race, succeeding Konrad Mizzi as Deputy Leader for Party affairs of the Labour Party. In January 2017, investigative journalist

Daphne Caruana Galizia Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia (; 26 August 1964 – 16 October 2017) was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, repor ...

alleged that, while in Germany on official government business, Cardona visited a brothel with his aide Joe Gerada. Both Cardona and Gerada denied the claims and instituted legal action in the form of libel suits, however before the case was decided in court, Carauna Galizia was killed in a car bomb attack. Cardona has since himself been named in court as the mastermind behind a separate, aborted plot to assassinate Caruana Galizia in 2015.

Involvement in 2019 Malta political crisis

During the height of the 2019 Malta political crisis Cardona suspended himself as a minister in November 2019, in the context of the arrest of

Yorgen Fenech Yorgen Fenech (born 23 November 1981) is a Maltese businessman whose main interests are casinos and hotels in Malta. He was head of the Tumas Group and director of the Maltese-Azerbaijan-German company ElectroGas Malta. Suspected of bribing ...

and

Keith Schembri Keith Schembri (born in Cospicua, 26 July 1975) is Maltese businessman and political strategist who served as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat from 11 March 2013 to 26 November 2019. Schembri resigned in relation to the murder inv ...

. He asked for protection due to an alleged frame-up for the murder of Caruana Galizia.Lovin Malta
/ref> He was later reinstated in December 2019 by

Joseph Muscat Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020. Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...

as minister. Cardona, along with former Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and Finance Minister

Edward Scicluna Edward Scicluna (born October 12, 1946 in Rabat, Malta) is a Maltese economist and politician. Scicluna assumed the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Malta as from 1st January 2021 for a five-year term. Biography Education and priv ...

, is the subject of a criminal inquiry over the deal with Vitals Global Healthcare.

2020 resignation

The change in Prime Minister to

Robert Abela Robert Abela (born 7 December 1977) is a Maltese lawyer and politician who has served as prime minister of Malta and leader of Labour Party since 2020. The son of former President George Abela, he was elected to Parliament in 2017. Abela was ...

in January 2020 saw Chris Cardona excluded from the position of Minister in the new government, resigning as an MP in April, but continued as Deputy Labour Leader until in June 2020 when Abela asked him to resign due to ongoing police and court revelations regarding the murder of

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardona, Christian 1972 births Living people Government ministers of Malta University of Malta alumni Labour Party (Malta) politicians 20th-century Maltese politicians 21st-century Maltese politicians