Labour turns down invitation to appear before PN party financing commission

The Labour Party has turned down an invitation to appear before the party financing commission appointed by PN leader Simon Busuttil, insisting that the PN was, and remained, in breach of the party financing law.

Busuttil appointed the commission, led by retired judge Giovanni Bonello, to come up with proposals on the law after it was alleged that the PN, through its media company Media.Link, issued invoices to subsidiaries of db Group for services that were never rendered.

The CEO of db Group, Arthur Gauci, had revealed that the Group had been “specifically asked” to cover the monthly salaries of various PN personnel, both before Busuttil’s election as leader and after.

The Electoral Commission is currently investigating the PN over the alleged breaches, although the PN is insisting that it should not be investigated by the Electoral Commission. It has taken the matter before the Constitutional Court.

In its reply, the Labour Party argued that it was the present administration that introduced the law regulating donations to parties.

The PL accused the PN of introducing the cedoli scheme in order to bypass the law, and revelations of the issuing of fake invoices went on to show that “Busuttil is not credible”.

“For Busuttil to be taken seriously over the appointment of this commission, he must first revoke the cedoli scheme and publish the fake invoices,” it said.