Malta’s two political parties have been handed the handsome sum of Lm1,0922,602 over the last 14 years – all taxpayers’ money which has never been accounted for, sources confirmed with MaltaToday.
Yesterday, party whips Joe Mizzi (MLP) and Mario Galea (MLP) said they had no problem with presenting audited statements of the cash they received from the budgetary vote for the House of Representatives, effectively confirming they had never been obliged to account for the use of this money.
But both whips also confirmed the money had been used to finance party operations and even handed to the political party functionaries – confirming that part of the cash from the parliamentary vote was used for activities or operations not directly related to parliamentary work.

Mario Galea also confirmed that part of the money used by the PN went towards the financing of operations at Informa – the party’s research library, which forms part of the party’s private commercial company Media.Link. Informa also provides its research facilities against payment to non-party members.
“The PN uses the money for its library research services, which is backed by Informa, to assist the parliamentary group,” Galea said.
Asked whether this was used for the payment of services as well as financing the company’s operations, Galea said the money goes towards “strengthening the library’s services”.
“The parliamentary group needs this company. It needs this library to back it for research, otherwise it would have to resort to another service. We also use the money to employ a part-time secretary for the parliamentary group.”
Joe Mizzi also confirmed he passed on parliamentary funds to the Labour party’s finance officer, claiming he was not informed on how the money was effectively used for.
“We have used it for conferences to cover parliamentary work in the Mediterranean, but I cannot keep this money and issue cheques, so I pass them on to the party cashier.”
Asked whether he had any guarantee whether this money was not being used for party operations other than assisting the parliamentary group, Mizzi said he was “sure it was being used as supposed.”
However, he had no knowledge of how the money was used by the party, and whether this was used to finance other party operations.
Since injecting more cash into the financing of the parliamentary groups’ work, no audited statement of accounts has ever been presented to the Speaker of the House.
As Speaker in 1994, Lawrence Gonzi increased funds from Lm6,389 to Lm35,125 for MPs involved in work abroad in Brussels. The funds were later increased by a Labour government in 1997 to Lm99,998 to cover “political party work in the Mediterranean”.
The groups receive a payment every month, in addition to other funds which cover MPs’ expenditure on stationery and telecommunications.
Both party whips said they had no problem in auditing the money. “Labour has absolutely no problem with the introduction of any measures taken that would further ensure a better accountability and transparency over the allocation of such funds,” Joe Mizzi said. Mario Galea also expressed agreement in getting the use of the funds audited.
On Monday the Cabinet approved a proposal by Lawrence Gonzi for the government to enter discussions over the funding of political parties. His declaration was made following a letter from PN secretary-general Joe Saliba asking him to set up a parliamentary committee to draw up regulations.
Saliba had earlier on opened up a Pandora’s Box when stating that it was common knowledge that building contractors had financed political parties, less than a week after taking a Mediterranean cruise with card-carrying construction magnate Nazzareno Vassallo aboard his yacht.
He later wrote a letter to the prime minister asking him to discuss party financing, effectively deflecting the heat over his statements.
Party financing had been discussed within the Galdes Commission, set up by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami in 1995. But no agreement had been reached on the allowable limit of donations or on which amounts should be declared.

mvella@mediatoday.com.mt