Labour declares two corporate donors in 2021 and 2022

The Labour Party has declared receiving two donations of €10,000 each from Schembri & Sons and Pavi Supermarket in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

The information comes from the donation reports filed with the Electoral Commission and published on its website on Monday. The PN’s donation reports for 2021 and 2022 have still not been published.

The donation from Schembri & Sons, a construction company based in Birżebbuġa and owned by Frank and Edward Schembri, was made during a fund-raising marathon held in June 2021.

The donation from Pavi Supermarket Limited, which forms part of Paul Gauci’s PG Group, was made in September 2022.

Apart from these two donations, the PL did not receive any other contribution above the €7,000 transparency limit set at law.

Neither the PL nor the PN had received donations above the €7,000 limit in 2019 and 2020.

By law parties are only obliged to publish the source of donations above the €7,000 threshold, while donations above €25,000 from a single source are illegal.

The PL received €1.92 million in donations in 2021 and  €1.93 million in 2022 which was also the election year. In 2020, the party had received €1.35 million in donations.

The PL collected a considerable amount of money from individuals and companies whose donations exceeded €500 but stayed below the €7,000 threshold, meaning the source will only be known to the Electoral Commission but not to the public.

In 2021, the PL received 504 donations in this range which netted €1.4 million. In 2022, the party received 511 donations in this range which also netted €1.4 million. This mean that the party received an an average donation of €2,759  from these donors.

PL registers surplus

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission also published on its website the Labour Party’s accounts for 2021.

They show the Labour Party registering a €944,992 surplus, up from a €297,603 surplus in 2020.

The accounts show that the party had an income of €2.4 million and spent €1.4 million.

The value of the party’s current assets amount to €40.2 million. The PL’s liabilities amounted to €4.5 million and these included borrowing of €3 million.