Party financing debate persists during Bondiplus

Labour MP Chris Cardona challenged Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami on PBS current affairs programme Bondiplus, to prove that the Nationalist Party had paid for some €160,000 in services annually rendered to it by MFCC, a company owned by PN donor and construction magnate Nazzareno Vassallo.

Both he and Fenech Adami clashed in a race to prove to the electorate whose credentials on party financing are the cleanest. Cardona said that since 2008, the Nationalist Party had run up a debt ammounting to €160,000 annually with MFCC, the owners of the Ta' Qali convention centre tent, and challenged Fenech Adami and the Nationalist Party to prove that this debt was paid by presenting the fiscal reciepts.

The heated debate dealt largely with Anglu Farrugia's controversial interview which was published last Sunday and featured lengthy excerpts from the interview itself, as well as the resulting reactions from both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Labour leader Joseph Muscat over the past two days.

Fenech Adami reiterated many of the attacks that the PN has been levelling against Labour, while Cardona pressed on the PN's own troublesome proximity to big business and developments.

Alternattiva Demokratika spokesperson for international and EU affairs Arnold Cassola also took both parties to task during a brief intervention over their joint reticence to introduce rigorous party financing laws and willingness to accommodate business interests.

Cassola insisted that both parties in parliament conspired to accommodate the MFCC by removing a €1.2 million bank guarantee that had previously been a condition for the tender for the land use of the tent area in Ta' Qali.

Cassola said that both parties were guilty of removing the bank guarantee through unanimous approval in a parliamentary committee - a statement that both Cardona and Fenech Adami made no reaction to.

Cassola also said that it is "noteworthy" that on the same day that Anglu Farrugia blew the whistle on Labour's proximity to big business, MaltaToday published its own story that revealed that Nazzareno Vassallo had made hefty donations to the Nationalist Party. "This debate shows our sorry state. We are in an election campaign, and we are not even discussing proposals but discussing bribes and corruption in the country," Cassola said.

During the debate, Cardona insisted that Anglu Farrugia's statements need to be considered within the context of "someone who is hurt" and pointed out how the former deputy leader's cause seems to have been taken up by the PN despite its intense criticism of him in the past.

"Farrugia spent five years suffering vicious that targeted him and his family. And [Gonzi] never defended him," Cardona said, questioning how, suddenly, the Nationalist Party is "glorifying him" and treating him as its most reliable source.

Cardona also referred to the PN's past proximity to big business by recalling how in 2007, both former party secretary-general Joe Saliba and incumbent Paul Borg Olivier went on cruises aboard a yacht owned by business magnate Zaren Vassallo.

On his own part, Fenech Adami reiterated many of the attacks that the PN has been levelling against the Labour Party, insisting that Farrugia's statements shows that Labour has been hijacked by big business.

He also insisted that Muscat needs to be clear on why he requested Farrugia's resignation, maintaining that "Muscat cannot be trusted."

Fenech Adami also questioned "what goes on in [the Labour Party's] fourth floor" insisting, "that this is the place where the Labour party sends for businesspeople and contractors and asks them for money."