Missing: Villas in Portugal, £115 million and a red Ferrari – Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo gives light-hearted response to corruption allegations

FABIAN Picardo needs help to find his villas in Portugal and the money he has embezzled as Gibraltar’s Chief Minister.

He is also keen to find the keys to his red Ferrari – if anyone knows where they are.

This was the light-hearted post he made to his X account to make fun of his detractors and the allegations that have dogged the Rock’s leader in recent years.

Picardo posted a screenshot from a Facebook group claiming his net worth in 2020 was ‘£115 million from an annual salary of £100,000.’

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“How did he acquire so much wealth while in office?” the user asks.

A woman claiming to be his neighbour declared that the Chief Minister also owns a Ferrari: “I’ve seen it in his garage, I live beside him.

She laughed off the idea that Picardo only has a Porsche, adding: “My mouth dropped when I seen [sic] the Ferrari, believe me peeps heavy [sic].”

Picardo posted another screenshot of users claiming he owns villas in Portugal, with another person wondering ‘who built them.’

But the 52-year-old laughed off the rumours with his social media post yesterday evening.

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“Can someone tell me the address of the villa or villas in Portugal, the numbers of the accounts where the money is and where I can find the keys of the red Ferrari?” he wrote.  

“It’s a bit crap not to have access to all the stuff people think I have… #Seriously?”

The Chief Minister also appeared on Spanish TV show Todo Es Mentira last year to deny allegations of corruption after a Gibraltarian woman posted them to Instagram.

But he raised eyebrows more recently when he declared at the McGrail Inquiry that he was ‘wealthier than I ever wanted from my work as a lawyer and my salary as Chief Minister.’

The inquiry report, which among other things examined the role Picardo played in forcing the former Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail to resign in 2020, is expected to arrive sometime next year.

Last month Picardo was forced to declare that he would not step down if and when a Brexit treaty for Gibraltar is announced.

He did, however, confirm that he would step down once his current term is up in 2027, when he will have served as Gibraltar’s leader for 16 years.