Party financing: PN clinches agreement for online access to accounts

Nationalist MP Claudio Grech has vehemently insisted that political party accounts and MPs’ declaration of assets must be freely available online.

He was met with some severe opposition by justice minister Owen Bonnici during the committee discussion on the party financing bill, who seemed unable to understand the necessity of having the audited statements available online.

“How can the public be free to access companies’ records on the MFSA website, and then not to have those of political parties?” shadow economy minister Claudio Grech asked.

“Even the Council of Europe’s GRECO will not have access to these accounts,” Grech said, referring to the watchdog that had repeatedly flagged the absence of party financing rules in Malta.

Nationalist MP Chris Said said the internet provided transparency and would make it easier for the public to have access to the accounts, rather than just being accessible through the Electoral Commission.

Article 30 of the party financing bill proposes that the Electoral Commission makes available parties’ audited accounts “available for public inspection” – but the Opposition succeeded in garnering agreement for their online publication.

Earlier in the sitting, Bonnici proposed the revocation of Article 15 (1)(c) which lays down that political parties applying for registration have to present a “general outline plan of how the political party intends to comply with the financial and reporting requirements in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Act.” Both sides voted in favour.

Bonnici and Claudio Grech argued at length over whether the Electoral Commission should have the powers to inspect a party’s annual statement of accounts and the auditor’s report within seven days of the Electoral Commission requesting them.

Grech insisted that this was useless given that the parties would be already legally obliged to present their accounts within four months of the end of the year. But Bonnici said that the extra layer of regulation was necessary: “it creates a necessary balance in the case of some infringement,” he said.

Grech however said that the law already obliges political parties to present a record of the party’s and its companies’ assets and liabilities, and that consolidated accounts at the end of the financial year would suffice for the purposes of the Electoral Commission’s verification.

MPs from both sides pounced upon an unwise suggestion by Attorney General Peter Grech, when he queried whether political parties’ companies’ accounts should also be submitted for the Commission’s verification.