Electoral Commission to investigate alleged breach of party financing laws

The Electoral Commission has announced that it is appointing an investigative board to probe all the cases brought to its attention about alleged breaches to party financing rules.

The Labour Party has claimed that by accepting payments from the db Group via its media company Media.link, the Nationalist Party was in breach of party financing laws.

DB Group’s CEO Arthur Gauci has said that his company had been asked to pay the salaries of the PN secretary-general Rosette Thake and CEO Brian St John – at least €77,000 in 2016.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Party has said that the Labour Party was also in breach of the same laws when it failed to register as a political party. Earlier this month, the Electoral Commission had confirmed that the PL had applied to be registered within the stipulated timeframe, but its application was turned down after the Electoral Commission realised that its statute went against the law. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told MaltaToday on Thursday that Labour Party will be registering itself as a political party with the Electoral Commission as soon as changes to its statute are approved during the party’s annual general meeting in April.

The Electoral Commission said that it will announce the members of the board in the coming days as soon as the relevant persons are appointed.