PL, PN trade more blows in party financing battle

The Labour Party yesterday said that the fact that Simon Busuttil found a party in a very bad financial situation, did not give him licence to go against the party financing law.

Addressing a press conference, Ministers Owen Bonnici and Edward Zammit Lewis reiterated what the party has been insisting upon for the last week or more, that Simon Busuttil's actions go against the spirit of the party financing law.

Minister Bonnici said that Simon Busuttil is not only false, but when faced with such difficulties, he ends up lying. “One of the biggest lies he said was when he said that law does not apply to companies which fall under the party. We know that this is a lie.”

Minister for Tourism Zammit Lewis said that it was the same Leader of the Opposition who had said that he would be returning the money he got from db Group as he labelled them “dirty money.”

The PN reacted shortly afterwards, saying that Owen Bonnici and Edward Zammit Lewis can only be taken seriously once their party regulates itself with the party financing law.

They were referring to a statement by the Electoral Commission last week, which confirmed that the PL is not yet registered as a political party, in line with the party financing law.

“The only party going against the law is the one which did not register itself as a party in the stipulated time and did not present the list of donations given to the PL,“the PN said.

It also reiterated that PL officials and TV presenters were having their salaries paid from taxpayer money.