Busuttil demands list of government sponsorships during election campaign

Outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil called on ministries to release the list of sponsorships they had handed out during the last election campaign.

In Parliament, outgoing PN deputy leader Mario de Marco tabled a set of parliamentary questions to a number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, asking them for a list of sponsorships they had handed out between 1 May and 3 June. However, the ministers all responded by asking him to specify what sort of sponsorships he was referring to.

The answer irked Busuttil, who said that the question was worded clearly enough and that the Opposition was asking for an exhaustive list of sponsorships hande dout by ministeries during the election campaign.

“We’re playing hide and seek over here. Can somebody here tell us how many sponsorships were handed out during the election campaign? After all, we are asking on behalf of the people.”

However, energy minister Joe Mizzi said that the definition of ‘sponsorship’ is far-reaching and can also include scholarships.

Education minister Evarist Bartolo said that departments and entities had given him different definitions on what constitutes a sponsorship.

“For example, the government is financing the courses of ethics teachers, so does that constitute the financing of a course or a sponsorship?”