Nationalist Party asks public for €10,000 loans at 4% interest

Nationalist Party seeks small financing from the public in the form of €10,000 loans payable back at 4% in 10 years’ time

In 2015 the PN collected almost €500,000 in a Christmas telethon, and in a recent 'honest politics' telethon it garnered over €250,000
In 2015 the PN collected almost €500,000 in a Christmas telethon, and in a recent 'honest politics' telethon it garnered over €250,000

The Nationalist Party is on the market for some quick finance: in a bid to seek a steady flow of party financing it is looking for loans of €10,000 that it will repay over the next 10 years at an interest rate of 4%.

The PN was wracked with a reported €5 million debt at the start of 2013, and has since underwent radical cost-cutting internally as well as sold off party club properties.

The scheme will be administered by the PN’s president of the executive committee, Ann Fenech, and party treasurer Alex Perici Calascione.

At a compound interest rate of 4%, the principal €10,000 would total €14,802 after ten years.

Malta’s party financing rules allow any loan given on terms more favourable than ordinary commercial terms, to be considered as a donation; as long as the interest payable over a 12-month period is not in excess of €25,000 had the loan been taken out on ordinary commercial terms. Any such loan, according to party financing rules, must be recorded together with the donor’s name and address, or company registration details.

Loans to political parties are not unheard of, but the practice has in the past been tarnished. The ‘loans for lordships’ or cash for honours scandal in the UK in 2006 was based on life peerages being awarded to donors who loaned money to the Labour Party, so they did not have to make a public declaration.

The PN described its money-spinner as a “leap in quality on party financing”.

Secretary-general Rosette Thake said on Wednesday that the PN had underwent an entire restructuring of its revenue streams. “Cedoli 2016 will allow the party to reach the highest level of seriousness and transparency in its financing,” Thake said.

“We’re ready to be an alternative government,” PN leader Simon Busuttil said. “We offer a different choice that wants to build trust in politics. That’s why we have proposed various proposals on the economy, work, good governance, the environment and transport.”