|
Kurt Sansone
An unrepentant Alfred Sant would not comment on the contents of a management letter sent to the party by its auditors that alleged tax evasion and serious weaknesses in the donation collection system when asked about the issue during last Tuesday’s Bondi Plus.
The management letter was published for the first time in MaltaToday three weeks ago and Sant has kept his silence ever since.
A visibly uncomfortable Alfred Sant would not give Lou Bondi a straight answer on Tuesday and shot back by saying that Where’s Everybody? Bondi’s company, did not publish its accounts.
Pressed for more, Sant simply reiterated what Secretary General Jason Micallef told this newspaper two weeks ago. “The Labour Party is an organisation that over the years has grown very big and makes use of hundreds of volunteers. Over the years there has been an effort to professionalise the situation,” Sant said.
The publication by MaltaToday of a management letter sent to then secretary general Jimmy Magro in November last year has created internal shockwaves within the party. For long the party’s financial situation and that of its subsidiaries had been the subject of many rumours that not all was well and the management letter only served to confirm the rumours.
The MLP’s auditors Ernst & Young pointed out that not all wages paid to full timers and part timers were being declared for tax purposes. They also painted a very negative picture of the financial situation at One Productions, which also owed Lm280,000 to the Social Security Department in NI contributions and Lm58,000 to the VAT department.
Ernst & Young said there were serious problems with the cash donation collection system with missing receipt books, cash not being returned by collectors and no system of checks and balances.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
|
