PN deputy leader: No need for David Thake to resign pending tax probe

David Thake self-reported himself to the Standards Commissioner after reports surfaced of a pending VAT bill of €270,000

The Nationalist Party feels no need for MP David Thake to resign his portfolio over a pending VAT bill of €270,000 on his company Vanilla Telecoms Ltd.

During a press conference on Tuesday, the party’s deputy leader David Agius made a distinction between David Thake and Karol Aquilina. The latter had resigned as shadow minister for justice after he was charged over a June 2019 driving incident.

“The cases are a bit different from each other. Karol Aquilina was charged in court but is now back in the parliamentary group. Thake put himself forward to the Standards Commissioner for investigation. A decision will be taken from them” Agius said.

Thake reported himself to the Standards Commissioner after reports surfaced of a pending VAT bill. He formally wrote to the Commissioner requesting an investigation into the reports to identify whether he breached ethical standards at any point.

With regards to Vanilla Telecoms Ltd, Thake stated that all income had been declared in time and that there is no allegation or suspect of tax evasion.

However, he admitted that €270,440 is due to the tax authorities, with €233,515 of the sum amounting to pending VAT. The rest is interest and penalties.

Thake said that €174,790 are immediately due, while the rest had been deferred as part of the COVID measures to help businesses during the pandemic.