Supermarkets operator PG Group donated €10,000 each to PL and PN

Supermarkets operator PG Group donated €10,000 each to the Labour and Nationalist parties last year, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The company was reacting to a news item that appeared in MaltaToday, which reported on the PL’s donation reports for 2021 and 2022 released by the Electoral Commission.

MaltaToday has no visibility on the PN’s donation reports for the two years under review since these have not yet been published by the commission.

In 2022, the PL reported a donation of €10,000 from Pavi Supermarkets. The law obliges parties to publish the names of donors who make donations above the €7,000 threshold.

In a statement, the PG Group clarified that it also made an equivalent donation of €10,000 to the PN.

“PG Group is of the view that business organisations of its size should support the country’s democratic process, and that this includes ensuring the proper funding of the main political parties which enjoy the overwhelming support of the Maltese electorate,” the company said. “To this end the Group donated the sum of €10,000 both to the PL and to the PN prior to the 2022 election.”

The two major parties reported receiving no donations that required naming the donors in 2020. The PL reported receiving a donation of €10,000 from Schembri & Sons, a construction company based in Birżebbuġa, in 2021, and a similar donation from Pavi in 2022.